The Five Doctors and Hatters
by loulouflowerpower
Summary: The 5 Doctor and 4 Hatter, with companions, go for a trip to the Eye of Orion, when there simple trip suddenly turns into something they never expected before as both the Doctors and the Hatters past incarnations begin being snatched out of time and space, only to be transported to the Death Zone on Gallifrey. What secrets will they uncover? And who is the traitor behind all this?
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of its characters, I only own the Hatter(s).**_

_**This story will be updated every Monday and Wednesday and has eight chapters in total, think of it as a bit of an early Christmas present :)**_

_**The Five Doctor's and Hatter's, part 1.**_

The Doctor ran a cleaning cloth over the TARDIS console, pausing for a moment to give a spot a slightly harder scrub while the Hatter leaned against the wall, watching him with a fond look. She was dressed in blue jeans, bright orange ruffled shirt with an orange hat, convers's, blonde hair, and bright blue eyes.

Tegan walked in, wearing a red checked dress and red heels, "Finished?" she asked the Doctor.

"Yes," he smiled, glancing over to her, "And it looks rather splendid, doesn't it?"

"If you don't say so yourself," the Hatter smiled, walking over to him.

"Very funny, Hatter," the Doctor shook his head but couldn't help himself from smiling.

"But will the TARDIS work properly?" Tegan asked, eyeing the console.

"Of course, once everything's run in".

"Doctor, this is a Type 40 TARDIS," the Hatter cut in, looking amused, "I don't think you can get anymore 'run in' as you put it".

"Don't listen to her, old girl," the Doctor patted the console, "She's just upset because her TADISE is off being repaired".

The Hatter shook her head, "Yes, I admit that I miss my TARDIS but I'm not upset, actually, I'm enjoying travelling with you, it takes my mind off things…" she trailed off, closing her eyes painfully as she tried not to think of April Jones, Katie Harrison, and Michael Andrew's, her last companions.

Tegan cleared her throat, seeing how upset the Time Lady looked, "Didn't you repair everything?"

"Well," the Doctor forced himself to look away from the Hatter, feeling slightly guilty for teasing her, "The TARDIS is more than a machine, Tegan. It's like a person. It needs coaxing, persuading, encouraging".

Tegan crossed her arms, "You mean it's just as unreliable".

The Hatter laughed as the Doctor pointed his finger at his companion, "You have little faith, Tegan".

"Do you blame me?"

"No," the Hatter smiled at the other women, "In fact, I'm inclined to agree with you".

"So it's going to be one of those days," the Doctor sighed, shaking his head as he pulled a lever to open the door, only for it not to work, he glanced at the Hatter, looking embarrassed before thumping the console, making the doors open, "After you, Ma'am," he gestured toward the doors, looking at the Hatter again with a faint blush.

"Ever the gentlemen," the Hatter smiled, exchanging amused looks with Tegan, walking out while the Doctor followed.

They stepped out into what appeared to be an old stone ruin were they had parked the TARDIS, both taking a deep breath of the fresh air, "It was a brilliant idea to come here, Doctor," the Hatter smiled at him, "I already feel so much…lighter, do you know what I mean?"

"Grief and loss are always very painful," the Doctor said sadly, pushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear, "But you will get through it, I know you will. You've already improved since you began travelling with us, I only hope that you will one day forgive yourself for something you had no control over".

"But I did have control over it," the Hatter shook her head firmly, forcing herself not to burst into tears, the last thing she wanted was the Doctor to begin comforting her, not when she didn't deserve it, "April…" she swallowed hard, willing the pain to go away, "She would never have died if I hadn't meet her…she would have been safe".

"She would never have been safe living in the streets, Hatter," the Doctor told her gently but firmly, "You gave her a family, something she hadn't had before. If anything, you made her life better and you should be proud of yourself, just because of that".

"Maybe," she shrugged but the Doctor could clearly see that she didn't want to talk about it anymore, so he left it. Later, perhaps after she had spent some time to herself he would try again.

They walked through a stone archway, spotting Turlough sketching in a large sketch book the beautiful country side that surrendered them. He glanced up at them as he showed them his sketch, "It's marvellous here," he remarked as Tegan join them, "I feel so relaxed".

"That would be the high bombardment of positive ions," the Hatter explained, the Doctor smiled to himself, she had been holding herself back on the last few adventures they had been on, it was nice to see her old self poking through again.

"It's like Earth after a thunderstorm," Tegan remarked, looking around.

"Same cause and reason," the Doctor nodded, putting an arm around the Hatter's shoulders.

"It's beautiful," Tegan breathed.

"It is rather appealing," the Hatter nodded her agreement, looking around.

"For some," the Doctor said, avoiding looking at the Hatter as he spoke, "The Eye of Orion is the most tranquil place in the Universe".

"I can see why," the Hatter smiled softly, looking at the Doctor who smiled back.

Tegan turned to the Time Lords, "Can't we stay here?"

The Doctor glanced at the Hatter who nodded, making him grin, looking back to his companion, "Why not? For a while. We could do with a rest".

…**Somewhere, sometime,** **Earth**…..

The First Doctor was strolling through an Earth garden; thinking about how much his Hatter would have loved to have seen it, how fascinated she would have found all of the Earth planets. If only she had agreed to ditch her good for nothing husband and ran away with him and Susan all those years ago…but she did have a point. Her main focus should be on her family, not on his silly old dreams.

He walked to the lower part of the garden when something caught his eyes in the sky, he looked up and his eyes widened as he saw a conical like object flying towards him. He quickly started running; despite his elderly appearance, when he was scooped up by the object, vanishing without a trace.

…**Gallifrey**…

The First Hatter was sitting underneath the silver leaves of her favourite tree, reading. It always made her think of the Doctor when they were children, sneaking out of school, getting in trouble, pulling pranks on un-expecting students, and teachers. She could still remember the day that they carved their names into the tree, promising that they would always be together as best friends for ever.

Sadly, real life had caught up with her, family, an abusing husband, and work, had all played it's part in making sure that she didn't leave with the Doctor when he had asked her all those years ago, something that she regrated most strongly now days.

Suddenly, something caught her eye and she glanced up, before she could do any more then gasp in surprise, she was scooped up by a conical object, leaving nothing behind except her book.

…**Eye of Orion**…

"Ah!" Both the Fifth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter grasped the chest tightly, almost collapsing on top of each other at the sudden pain that struck them at the same time.

"What the…" the Fourth Hatter gasped again, closing her eyes tightly and bit her lip.

"Are you alright?" Turlough asked, running over to them, looking concerned.

The Fifth Doctor winced slightly, rubbing his chest, "Just…a twinge of cosmic angst," he glanced at the Fourth Hatter who was also rubbing her chest, just over her left heart, "Are you alright, Hatter?"

"Yes," she nodded, frowning, "I to felt a twinge of cosmic angst," she shook her head, "I'm sure it was nothing…hopefully".

"Cosmic?" Tegan repented, looking confused.

The Fifth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter slowly turned to look at the humans, saying at the same time, "As if I'd lost something".

….….….._**Colonel's office, UNIT HQ**_…

Colonel Charles Crichton stood in his new office, pouring a drink for himself as he walked toward the Brigadier who was sitting on top of the desk off to the side, dressed in normal clothing, "Right," he said, filling the Brigs glass.

"Thank you," the Brig nodded.

"Well," Charles said, holding his glass up in a small toast, "To civilian life".

The Brig chuckled as they drank, lowering the glass as he looked around the room, "You know, I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to this reunion. A chance to re-meeting old friends".

Charles nodded, frowning, "There was one chap and a young women we tried to get hold of," the Brig smiled slightly, guessing who he was talking about, "What were their names? They used to be your scientific advisors".

"Oh, the Doctor and the Hatter," the Brig nodded, smiling as he thought of the old days.

"Yes that's right".

"Wonderful chap," the Brig smiled softly, "And an extraordinary women. All of them".

Charles blinked, frowning, "_All of_ _them_?"

The intercom beeped, cutting off whatever the Brig was going to say as Charles walked around his desk, pressing the comm., "Yes?"

"Excuse me, sir," a young man's voice came over the comm., "Sorry to interrupt. Two people have arrived".

"I'm not expecting anyone," Charles replied back.

…..…_**Outside the Colonels office**_…..

"They're insisting on seeing Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart," the young sergeant called back over the comm., eyeing the man and women standing in front of his desk.

The man was dressed in a large fur coat that seemed to swallow him because on his small stature of 5'8. He was wearing a plain, light blue shirt with a black, butterfly bow-tie, a black suit jacket with a red polka dot pocket square peeking over the edge of his pocket, and grey, black pants.

The woman was blonde with brown eyes, hidden behind glasses. She wore a black dress with a white, lace collar, a red scarf, black tights, red converses, a black cape, and a black bowler hat with feathers on the side. She was slightly taller than the man, around 5'9.

"How did they know he was here?" Charles asked back, the man and women exchanged looks and started walking toward the office door.

"I'm sorry, Sir, Ma'am," the sergeant quickly stood from his desk and hurried over to them, making them look at him, "You're not allowed in there".

"Not allowed?" the man repented, glancing at his female companion who looked at the sergeant, smiling pleasantly, "Us? We're allowed everywhere".

"Oh, we are modest today," the women shook her head fondly.

The man sent her a small wink, ignoring the sergeant and opened the door, stepping inside as the young man grabbed his large, fur coat but instead of stopping the other man, he did a neat turn, taking his coat off in the process as the women followed behind.

"Oh, thank you," the man nodded to the surprised sergeant before holding out his hands to the Brig, smiling, "Brigadier".

"Hello, Alistair," the women greeted warmly, walking around her companions and kissing the Brigs cheek, "Lovely to see you again".

"Good heavens," the Brig breathed, shaking the man's hands while he looked at the women, "Is it you?"

"Yes, yes," the man nodded, "For once, I was able to steer the TARDIS".

"With my help of course," the women cut in, shaking her head.

"And here we are," the man continued as if the women had never spoken.

Charles sighed, looking over to the see the sergeant still by the door, fur coat in hand, "It's all right, Sergeant".

"Very good, Sir," the young man nodded, turning away to hang the fur coat on the coat rack before leaving, closing the door behind him.

"I hope we're not late," the women said, looking at the Brig, "I do try to get us to the right place but the old girls not like she used to be. I keep telling him to get it checked," she looked pointedly at her friend.

"What for?" the Brig asked.

"For your speech as guest of honour," the man replied, shaking his head at the women.

"How did you know?" the Brig blinked, looking at them, surprised.

"We saw it in the Times," the man answered as the woman nodded.

"That's impossible," Charles said seriously, "The reporter's still here".

"Tomorrow's Times," the man frowned, walking toward the Colonel, "And, er, and who is this?"

"That's Colonel Crichton," the Brig introduced, smiling, "My replacement".

The man and women gasped, looking at each other and nodded, "Ah," the man turned back to the Colonel, eyeing him for a moment, "Yes, mine was pretty unpromising, too".

"Hey," the women gave her friend a stern look, "I happen to like your future self. I thought he was quit charming, when the two of you weren't at each other's throats that is".

The Brig cleared his throat, sending the Colonel an apologetic look as he turned back to the man and women, "Come along, Doctor, Hatter," he walked over to the coat rack and grabbed his own coat along with the Second Doctor's, "We'll take a stroll round the grounds, shall we?" he walked back over to the Colonel, coats in hands while the Second Doctor looked around the room, "Awfully sorry about this. Do excuse me for a moment".

"You've had this place redecorated, haven't you?" the Second Doctor frowned as the Brig walked over to a set of French windows that opened out into the garden, "Hmm. I don't like it".

"Oh, don't start," the Second Hatter sighed, grabbing his hand and dragging him toward the Brig, glancing over her shoulder, "Nice to meet you. I wish you good luck".

"Come along, Doctor, Hatter," the Brig called again.

"After you," the Second Doctor gestured to the Brig.

"What?" he asked, the Second Hatter shook her head.

"After you," the Second Doctor repented.

"No, no," the Brig shook his head, opening the door and gesturing for the Second Hatter to go first, "Ladies first".

"Or in my case, Time Ladies first," the Second Hatter smiled, walking through the doors, followed by the Brig who helped the Second Doctor put his coat on, closing the door behind.

The Colonel watched, shaking his head as he screwed the lid back on his bottle of whiskey, a moment later the sergeant entered, "Everything alright, sir?" he asked, noticing the look on the other man's face.

"What the blazes is going on?" the Colonel frowned, looking at the sergeant, "Who was that strange little man? And who was that blonde women with the black cape?"

"The Doctor and the Hatter".

"Who?"

…

The Second Hatter sighed, shaking her head as she watched the Second Doctor attempting to tire the string on his coat to fasten it, "Oh let me do it, Doctor," she finally said, batting his hands away and began tiring it properly, "I will never understand why you insist on this coat, not when it makes you shorter then you already are".

"It's warm," the Second Doctor defended himself as the Brig watched them, looking amused.

"I would hope so," the Second Hatter shook her head, stepped back and nodding, "Alright, all finished".

"Good," the Second Doctor muttered, wincing slightly at the glare he was sent.

The Brig cleared his throat, putting his hands inside his trench coat pockets as they began walking, "Yes. Yeti, Cybermen," he smiled, glancing at the Time Lords, "We've seen it all, Doctor, Hatter".

"And Omega," the Second Hatter reminded him, "We mustn't forget Omega".

"As if I could!" the Brig shook his head.

"And the terrible Zodin," the Second Doctor added, linking an arm through the Second Hatter's.

"Who?" the Brig frowned.

The Second Hatter hit the Second Doctor's head, seeing as he was unlikely to feel it through his thick coat, "I thought this was a bad idea from the very beginning, l should never have allowed you to drag me into this".

"If I recall, you agreed," the Second Doctor replied, giving her a slightly smug look before turning to the confused Brig, missing the look he was sent from the blonde, "Oh, you weren't concerned with her, were you? She happened in the future. They were covered in hair. Used to hope like kangaroos," they came to a stop at the end of the path, close to a large tree as the Time Lords turned to the Brig, "Well, we must say goodbye, Brigadier".

"We shouldn't be here in the first place," the Second Hatter admitted, looking slightly guilty, "You see, we're not exactly breaking the laws of time, but we are bending them a little".

"You never did bother much about rules, as I remember," the Brig shook his head, fondly. The Second Doctor and the Second Hatter slowly lost their smiles as they caught sight of something flying toward them, the Brigadier frowned at them, "What's the matter?" he asked them. He turned and followed there line of sight to see a conical object flying towards them, "What is that?" he breathed.

"Bad news, I'm afraid," the Second Hatter frowned, "Alistair, I think our past is catching up with us".

"Or maybe it's out future," the Second Doctor added, grabbing the Second Hatter's hand and the Brigs arm, "Come on, run!" he shouted, pulling them under the cover of the tree in the hope of it hiding them.

"Doctor, Hatter," the Brig groaned, pulling his arm out of the other man's grip, "I'm too old for this sort of thing".

The Second Doctor and the Second Hatter ignored him, looking around frantically, searching for the flying object, "Where's it gone?" he demanded, glancing at the Second Hatter as she continued to look before looking back to the Brig, "We must get back to the TARDIS before it's too late".

The Second Hatter glanced behind her and gasped, "There!"

Both men turned to see the object flying toward them, the Doctor grabbed the Hatter's hand again, shouting, "Run!" they began running out from under the tree, but a moment later the object swopped down and caught them, once again, leaving nothing behind.

…..…..…..**Eye of Orion**…..

The Fifth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter appeared to be staring into the distance, but seeing nothing in front of them, both breathing deeply as if they had been running fast, holding one hand just over there right heart.

"Doctor, Hatter," Tegan asked, looking at them in concern, "What is it?"

Slowly, the two Time Lords glanced at her before returning there gaze off into the distance, "It's fading," they both breathed, "It's all fading".

Turlough exchanged looks with Tegan, "What's fading?"

"Great chunks of my…" the Fifth Doctor trailed off, his eyes flickering to the Fourth Hatter standing beside him, "Our past, detaching themselves like melting icebergs," both he the Fourth Hatter cried out in pain, "Ah!"

"Do something," Tegan exclaimed, looking desperately toward Tulough as they rushed forward, "Help them!"

"Oh, no," the Fourth Hatter shook her head, clutching tightly to her chest through the pain, "Please, don't look so worried. We'll have it all worked out soon enough".

"Everything's all right," the Fifth Doctor nodded, clutching his own chest in pain, "Everything's quite all right," he clapped his hands on Turlough and Tegan's shoulders, a moment later he collapsed along with the Fourth Hatter.

Turlough managed to catch the Fifth Doctor before he fell while Tegan helped the Fourth Hatter.

…**A country road on Earth**…

The Third Doctor and the Third Hatter were enjoying a drive through the country side in the Third Doctor's car, Bessie. They had managed to sneak out of Unit's base while they were supposed to be writing up a report for the Brigadier, and Sarah Jane Smith was off working on a story for the newspaper she worked for.

"Great balls of fire!" the Third Doctor exclaimed, the Hatter frowned at him before she spotted the cone like object flying toward them.

"Oh dear," she sighed, looking worried, "Doctor, we have to get out of here!"

The Third Doctor nodded, turning Bessie around in a junction they were just approaching, flooring the accelerator. A moment later they lost sight of the cone object in the wing mirror.

"Good old Bessie," the Third Doctor smiled, patting the steering wheel as the Third Hatter smiled.

"Doctor, I may tease you about being a terrible TARDIS driver," she said, giving him a small smile as he smiled back, "But you can be a brilliant car driver at times".

The Third Doctor opened his mouth to reply, when he was cut off by the corn object swopping down on them, sweeping them away, Bessie and all.

…**..…Eye of Orion**….

The Fifth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter were sitting beside each other on the ground, heads bowed as they held each other's hands. Turlough and Tegan crouched beside them.

"What's happening to them?" Tegan asked, looking at Turlough, almost crying, "What are we going to do?"

"They seem to be under some kind of psychic attack," Turlough said thoughtfully.

Slowly, the Fifth Doctor raised his head, "We are being dimished," he told his companions, speaking slowly as if it caused a great effort, "Whittle away, piece by piece. A man is the sum of his memories, you know".

"A Time Lord and Time Lady even more so," the Fourth Hatter slowly lifted her own head up to look at the humans, sounding weak as she spoke.

"What can we do to help you?" Tegan asked.

"Get us to the TARDIS," the Fourth Hatter replied, breathlessly.

Tegan quickly helped her up, putting an arm around her as the Time Lady took unsteady steps, Turlough followed suit with the Fifth Doctor. They made their way toward the TARDIS when both Time Lords gasped in pain, forcing them to stop.

"Ah!" the Fifth Doctor cried, clutching his chest as Turlough struggled to keep him up right, "We have to find…to find…"

"Find what?" Turlough asked him.

The Fifth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter looked at each other before looking back to the two humans, "Our other self's".

…..**West Common Road, Uxbridge, Earth**…

A young women with short brown hair, dressed in a pink suit and purple, see through rain coat opened her front door and walked out, hurrying down her garden path as a small metal dog came down the drive way.

"Mistress, do not go out," K9 said to the women.

"What is it?" Sarah Jane asked, putting a pair of woollen gloves on.

"Danger, Mistress".

"What?" Sarah frowned.

"I can sense danger, Mistress," K9 repented, "Telepathic trace faint but rapidly increasing in strength," Sarah glanced up and down the street, "Do not go out".

"What kind of danger?" Sarah crouched beside K9, looking concerned.

"Positive data not yet available".

"Well, I can't stay home," Sarah sighed, glancing around again, "You have to give me a reason".

"Negative, Mistress," K9 replied, "Data analysis shows too many variables. Danger readings now becoming much higher, Mistress," Sarah looked around again, looking slightly alarmed, "Suggestion. Take me with you".

Sarah laughed, smiling as she looked back to K9, "I can't. Honestly, I can't. The car's in docks so I've got to go by bus".

"There is danger, Mistress," K9 tried again; "My sensors indicate it is now extreme. And the Doctor and the Hatter is involved".

Sarah rolled her eyes, standing, "Well, now I know you're imagining things," she adjusted her hand bag on her shoulder, turning and walking away, "See you later".

She opened her front gate, crossing the street and made her way toward the bus stop as K9 watched her from behind the gate, "Danger!" he called after her, "Doctor! Hatter! Mistress!"

…**.River Cam**…

The Fourth Doctor, the Fourth Hatter, and Romana in her second body were drifting over the River Cam, punting. The Fourth Doctor was standing at the end of the boat, holding a large pole that he was using to push them along while Romana and the Fourth Hatter sat at the other end, reading a book each as they listened to the Fourth Doctor.

"Wordsworth," he was saying, "Rutherford, Christopher Smart, Andrew Marvell, Judge Jeffrey's, Owen Chadwick…."

"Who?" Romana frowned, looking up from her book.

"Owen Chadwick," the Fourth Hatter said, looking up from her own book and over to her fellow Time Lady, "I must make a mental note to visit him, charming fellow. I'm sure Tommy would like to meet him. Mr Chadwick was one of the greatest labourers in the history of Earth to have thought here".

"I didn't know that you knew him," the Fourth Doctor remarked, looking at the Fourth Hatter.

"Oh, yes," she nodded, smiling at him, "We go way back".

"And Newton, of course," Romana added after a moment.

"Oh, definitely Newton," the Fourth Doctor nodded, smiling.

"'For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,'" Romana quoted.

"That's right," the Fourth Doctor and Hatter nodded.

"So, Newton invented punting".

"Oh, yes," the Fourth Doctor said, ducking slightly as they want under a bridge, "There was no limit to Isaac's genius".

"Isn't it wonderful how something so primitive can be so…" Romana started, being cut off by the Fourth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter.

"Restful?" he suggested.

"I was going to say peaceful," the Fourth Hatter shrugged, "Same differences in the end".

"No, simple," Romana shook her head, "You just push in one direction and the boat goes in the other," they were quite for a while, taking in the surroundings, "Oh, I do love the spring. All the leaves, the colours".

"It's October," the Fourth Hatter corrected her, smiling slightly as she looked around, "Or though, I must agree with you, I've always been fond of spring".

"But I thought you said we were coming here for May week," Romana frowned, looking at the Fourth Doctor.

"I did," he replied, not looking at her, "May weeks in June".

Romana shook her head, "I'm confused".

"So was the TARDIS," the Fourth Hatter told her, looking amused.

"Oh, I do love the autumn," Romana remarked, looking around again, "All the leaves, the colours".

"I thought we already went over this?" the Fourth Hatter shook her head.

"Yes," the Fourth Doctor said, "Well, at least with something as simple as a punt nothing can go wrong," both Time Lady's exchanged looks, "No co-ordinates, no dimensional stabilisers, nothing. Just the water, the punt, a strong pair of hands," he winked at the Fourth Hatter at that point, making her roll her eyes, "And a pole".

No sooner had he finished talking, did the pole become stuck on something in the water, causing the Fourth Doctor to lose his grip on it. Before any of them could say anything, the cone like object swopped down from out of the sky and whisked them away, or tried too.

….…**Back in the 5 Doctor's TARDIS**…

The Fifth Doctor stood at the TARDIS console, sending it into flight while the Hatter clutched onto the other side of the console, Tegan and Turlough stood behind them so they could catch them should they fall.

The Doctor moved to the next side of the console but before he could do anything, he collapsed, falling backwoods into Turlough as he rushed forward to catch him, laying him on the floor.

"Oh no!" Tegan gasped.

It wasn't long before the Fourth Hatter joined him.

…..**West Common Road, Uxbridge, Earth**…

Sarah Jane finally arrived at the bus stop, shaking her head as she thought over what K9 had told her. She checked her watch, looking up and down the street for the bus when she noticed the cone object flying toward her. She started running backwards, almost tripping over before she turned but it was too late, the cone swept her up, leaving nothing but her handbag behind.

….… **The 5 Doctor's TARDIS**…..

The Fifth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter were still lying on the console floor, unconscious. Turlough knelled beside both Time Lords and checked there pulses, glancing questioningly at Tegan.

"Two hearts," Tegan told him, he nodded, understanding.

"Well, there bodies are all right," Turlough sighed, looking back to the two unconscious Time Lords, "They just seem to be fading away," he stood, walking over to the console, leaning on it, "Why did they have to set the TARDIS moving? We were safe before they did that".

"Look!" Tegan suddenly gasped, Turlough quickly turned to see that the Fifth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter seemed to be fading in and out, appearing to be slowly waking up as they did, "Doctor, Hatter?" she called, hoping to break through whatever was happening to them.

Behind them, the time rotor stopped working; both humans glanced at it, frowning.

"What's going on?" Tegan frowned, looking confused.

"We've landed," Turlough told her before leaning over and pressing something on the console, bring up the scanner to show a large tower standing on a huge rock in the middle of a grim planet.

Turlough looked at it for a moment before making his way to the other side of the console and flicking a switch, "According to the instruments," he said to Tegan, "We're nowhere, in no time".

Tegna frowned, sighing as she looked at the Time Lords, "The Doctor and the Hatter must have forgotten to reconnect something".

"No," Turlough shook his head, walking around to the other side of the console and pressing a button, "The instruments are working perfectly. They just won't tell us anything," he rubbed the back of his head, "The TARDIS is…paralysed".

"How did we get here?" Tegan demanded, "What do we do now?"

Turlough crouched down beside the Fifth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter, "We wait until the Doctor and the Hatter recovers," he decided.

Tegan ran her hand through her short hair, "And if it doesn't?" she sighed.

Turlough merely glanced at her.

_**First off, I would like to make clear that when the Fourth Hatter who is with the Fourth Doctor mentions Tommy, she is in fact talking about Tommy Connelly, her newest companion at that point in her time line while the other Fourth Hatter, who is with the Fifth Doctor, has just lost her companies April Jones, Katie Harrison, and Michael Andrew. I just wanted to clear that up, and it will be explained later on in the story a bit more on why that is. I hope you like it, please review :)**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**The five Doctor's and Hatter's, part 2.**_

**Conference room, Gallifrey.**

The Lord President of the High Council of Time Lords made his way inside the conference room were a man was dressed in typical Time Lord clothing, along with a women, who was also dressed in typical Time Lord clothing, both already sitting, awaiting the Presidents arrival.

"Well?" President Borusa asked as he sat at the end of table, looking at the man and women.

"He has arrived," the man, Castellan, informed Borusa.

Borusa shook his head, looking slightly troubled by the news, "Involving this person does not please me".

Castellan leaned forward from his chair, "The constitution clearly states that when in emergency session, the members of the inner council are unanimous".

"Which indeed we are," the women, Flavia, nodded stiffly.

"The President of the Council may be overruled," Borusa glanced at Flavia and Castellan, not looking pleased, "What a ridiculous clause," he paused for a moment before nodding, "Very well, have him enter".

Castellan nodded, looking down to the device sitting in front of him and began typing something into it, "With all due respect, Lord President," he said, glancing toward Borusa, "Your regeneration has not helped your stubbornness".

The other man didn't bother to comment, a moment later the Citadel guards opened the doors and a man dressed all in black entered.

"Lord President," the man greeted, nodding to each person in turn, "Castellan, Chancellor Flavia," Flavia nodded to the man politely, "This is a very great and, may I say, a most unexpected honour," he smiled, taking a seat at the end of the table, making a small show of it, "May I be seated?" Boruse continued to watch him, looking unimpressed, "Now then, what can I do for you?"

"You are one of the most evil and corrupt beings this Time Lord race has ever produced," Boruse began, all the while, the Master's smile grew, "Your crimes are without number and your villainy without end. Nevertheless, we are prepared to offer you a full and free pardon".

The Master leaned forward in his chair, raising his eyebrows, "What makes you think I want your forgiveness?"

"We can offer you an alternative to your renegade existence," Castellan told the Master.

"Regeneration," Borusa added, making the Master look at him, "A complete new life cycle".

The Master fell back against his chair, looking thoughtful for a moment before asking, "What must I do?"

"Rescue the Doctor and the Hatter," Borusa replied.

"What?" the Master breathed, looking shocked.

…**In a corridor somewhere**…...

Thunder crashed from outside while lightning was reflected off the metallic, irregular walls as the First Doctor made his way down the corridor that seem to zigzag, looking around as he tried to work out where he was.

Suddenly, up ahead he saw a shadow appear as a woman dressed in a dress and trench coat appeared, looking lost as she looked around.

"Susan?" the First Doctor asked, making the women jump and turn to look at him, "Surely it's Susan".

"Grandfather," Susan exclaimed, looking delighted as she quickly hugged him, "Oh, Grandfather!"

"Hello, is anyone there?" a voice called, a moment later an old women dressed in a dark red ceremonial floor length dress appeared, her grey hair was up in a complicated bun that had small pearls woven through it, "I'm sorry, I seem to be quite lost, could someone please assist me?"

"Hatter?" the First Doctor breathed, making the women turn and gasp, looking surprised before confused.

"Doctor?" she asked before moving closer, "It's truly you, is it not?" she smiled slowly, putting a hand on his cheek, "Of course it's you, forgive me but it has been quite some time since we last spoke".

"No apology needed," the First Doctor shook his head, smiling at her before gesturing to Susan, "Come, my girl, say hello to your Aunty Hatter".

"Aunty Hatter," Susan smiled before hugging the other women.

"Oh, Susan," the First Hatter smiled, looking delighted as she pulled back from the hug so she could see Susan better, "My, my, you have grown. Sometimes it feels like centuries have passed since I last saw you, we really mustn't let that happen again".

"I agree, Aunty Hatter," Susan nodded, "How is Theta, Abila, Myrnin, and Alessa? Last I heard, Theta had graduated with honours at the Academy".

To the First Doctor and Susan's surprise, the First Hatter burst into tears and began crying before she regained control of herself, quickly wiping her eyes and clearing her throat, "Forgive me," she smiled weakly at them a she noticed there startled and concerned looks, "But I have not spoken nor seen my children since my divorce".

"Divorce?" the First Doctor asked, fighting down the urge to cheer at the news, seeing as it wouldn't be a very mature thing for him to do.

"Yes, I won't go into detail," the First Hatter sighed, looking as if she was about to cry again but she held herself back, "My children took it as a personal insult to them and have not spoken to me since, nor have they allowed me any access to my grandchildren. I'm living with my parents for the time being but I'm not sure how much longer of that I will be able to take".

"I'm so sorry to hear that, my dear," the First Doctor told her, patting her arm gently as Susan hugged her.

"Don't be, Doctor, Susan," the First Hatter shook her head, pulling back slightly, looking around corridor, "Do you either of you have any ideas as to where we might be?"

"I wish I knew, my dear," the First Doctor sighed, shaking his head, taking Susan and the First Hatter's hands as they began walking down the hall.

"As soon as I found myself in this horrible place," Susan told them, "I started looking for you, Grandfather. Somehow I knew I'd find you here," she looked around the Doctor to the Hatter, "But I never expected to find you, Aunty Hatter".

"Life is full of surprises, dear Susan," the older women smiled at her before looking thoughtful, "But I think our main concern should be where we are now?"

"And why?" the First Doctor added, suddenly he jumped as a shadow at the end of the hall appeared, Susan and the First Hatter turned around to see the shadow of a Dalek.

"We must be on Skaro," Susan whispered as the First Hatter frowned, looking confused.

"What is that?" she asked quietly.

"It's called a Dalek, my dear," the First Doctor told her, patting her hand as she opened her mouth to ask something, "No, no, I'll explain later," he glanced at Susan, "We were brought here. Perhaps the Dalek was, too".

The Dalek rounded the corner; Susan quickly grabbed the Doctor and the Hatter's arms, "Run, Grandfather, Aunty Hatter!" she shouted, running down the hallway with them as the Dalek followed.

"Halt at once!" it shouted, following, "Halt or you will be exterminated. It is the Doctor and the Hatter. The Doctor and the Hatter must be destroyed".

"Doctor, how is it that the Dalek can know who I am if this is the first time I have ever seen one?" the First Hatter asked as they ran.

"Perhaps it was brought from another time were you have," the First Doctor said, taking her hand as they ran, "But never mind that, we need to hide, my dear".

"Exterminate," the Dalek shouted, firing its laser as it continued to follow the Time Lords, "Exterminate. Exterminate!"

…..…..**Conference room, Gallifrey**…..

"The Death Zone," Borusa said as they looked at screen set high on a wall, showing the image of a large tower in the middle of the rocky ground, surrounded by large mountains.

"Ah," the Master said, remembering being told the stories of the Death Zone when he was younger, "The black secret at the heart of your Time Lord paradise".

"Recently, the Zone has become reactivated," Castellan informed the Master, making him nod before looking at Borusa, "Somehow, it is draining energy from the Eye of Harmony".

"To an extent which endangers all Gallifrey," Flavia added, looking at Borusa.

Borusa nodded, looking back to the Master, crossing his arms on top of the table, "We must know what is happening there".

"Did it occur to you to go and look?" the Master asked, not looking pleased at the idea of going himself.

"Two of the High Council went into the Zone," Borusa told him, "Neither returned".

"So you sent for the Doctor and the Hatter?"

"We looked for the Doctor and the Hatter," Castellan corrected, "But they no longer exist. Not in any of their regenerations".

"The Doctor and the Hatter have been taken out of time," Borusa nodded.

They looked up to the screen on the wall that now showed an image of the Fourth Doctor, the Fourth Hatter, and Romana on it.

"We believe the attempt to lift them from their time stream was unsuccessful," Castellan explained, gesturing to the screen, "We are not sure why but there they must stay until we can find and free there other selves".

"And if you cannot?" the Master asked, feeling an annoying twinge of concern for the Hatter but not being able to stop himself from smirking at the idea of the Doctor, "The cosmos without the Doctor scarcely bares thinking about," he paused for a moment, doing just that before forcing himself to look back at Borusa, "What makes you think there other selves are in the Zone?"

"Their time traces," Borusa replied, "They converge there".

The Master nodded slowly, "And you can get me into the Zone?"

"We have a power-boosted, open ended transmit beam," Castellan smiled, gesturing over his shoulder to a white machine with a small screen set into the middle of it, "Funny enough, it's one of the Hatter's past inventions".

"Ah," the Master nodded, still not looking very impressed, ignoring the last comment as he looked back to Borusa, "Why me?"

"Because we need someone determined, experienced, ruthless, cunning…"

"And disposable?" the Master raised his eyebrows.

"Not at all," Castellan shook his head, "You would be useless to us dead".

"Will you go?" Flavia asked, sounding as if she regrated involving the Master.

"Will you?" Borusa repented, sounding slightly harsher than before.

"And rescue the Doctor and the Hatter," the Master shook his head before he began laughing, unable to stop himself at how ridicules it all was.

….**The fifth Doctor's TARDIS**…..

Tegan and Turlough watched as the Fifth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter disappeared completely in front of them.

"Come on, Doctor, Hatter," Tegan pleaded, kneeling beside the Time Lords as Turlough did the same.

"Hold on!" Turlough tried.

Slowly, the Fifth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter began to reappear.

"What's happening to you?" Tegan asked, watching in concern.

The Doctor and the Hatter pulled them self's up so now they were sitting on the floor, Tegan and Turlough quickly helped them to steady them, "We're being sucked into a vortex," the Fifth Doctor explained, breathlessly, "Part of us are there already. It's pulling the rest".

"We must send a signal," the Fourth Hatter breathed as she closed her eyes tightly as a sharp pain shot through her.

"What signal?" Tegan asked quickly.

"We must send a signal," the Fifth Doctor breathed painfully, "Find them. We must be whole".

…**In a corridor somewhere**…...

The First Doctor, the First Hatter, and Susan continued to run down the corridors, all the while still being followed by the Dalek, dodging its laser as it fired. But even as Time Lords, they were beginning to slow down and tire.

"Halt at once or you will be exterminated. Halt! Halt! Obey. Obey the Daleks. You will be exterminated. Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"Oh, it's a dead end!" Susan cried as they came to a stop, frantically looking around the corridor.

"That may be precisely what we need," the First Doctor said calmly, the First Hatter blinked at him.

"No, Grandfather!" Susan tried to drag him away but he pulled her along with the Hatter over to the other side of the corridor, hidden behind the oddly shaped corner, "Come on, please! Aunty Hatter, tell him!"

"Let him speak, Susan," the Hatter told her, surprising herself with how calm she sounded, "Go on, Doctor".

"Thank you, my dear," the First Doctor nodded to her, quickly explaining, "Now, when I say now, help me push the Dalek down that alley, and when I say drop, drop. Understand?"

Both Time Ladies nodded, showing that they understood as they waited a moment for the Dalek to come around the corner, firing its laser all around the corridor.

"Now, Susan, Hatter!" the Doctor shouted. They lunged forward and pushed the Dalek as hard as they could into a dead end.

"Under attack!" the Dalek cried, unable to stop itself from being pushed.

"Drop!" the First Doctor shouted, pulling both girls down with him, putting their hands over their heads to protect themselves better.

"Under attack!" the Dalek cried again and began firing it's laser at the small, three-sided area it was trapped in, causing multiple ricochets off its laser, "Exterminate! Under attack! Exterminate! Exterminate!"

The Time Lords looked up from their place still on the floor, watching as there was a final ricochet hit the Dalek. There was large explosion, ripping a hole in the wall to show outside while the green mutant inside the casing of the Dalek writhed in pain, screams and smoke filled the air as it slowly died.

The First Doctor, the First Hatter, and Susan pulled themselves up, the Hatter turned to the Doctor, "I must say, Doctor, you haven't lost your touch when it comes to making a mess," she glanced at the Dalek, "And I do not think I wish to know how you came by the knowledge of how dangerous it is to fire an energy weapon in an enclosed space".

The First Doctor opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by Susan, "Look!"

They look toward were she was pointing to see a large tower with mountains all around it, the Doctor and the Hatter moved forward for a closer look, "The Dark Tower," they said in unison, glancing at each other in surprise as they did.

"We're on Gallifrey," Susan realised.

"The Death Zone, yes," the First Hatter nodded, looking slightly troubled.

Susan frowned, looking confused, "Why were we brought here?"

The First Doctor looked back to her, "Instinct, my dear, tells me that the answer to that lies in the tower".

"Then that is where we shall go," the Hatter said, lifting the front of her dress just above her ankles and moving forward, preparing to make their way toward the Tower.

….….**The Death Zone, a rocky valley**….

"Charming spot, Doctor, Hatter," the Brig remarked sarcastically, looking around at the bleak surroundings of rocks and mountains, mist hanging thickly in the air around them, making it difficult to see into the distance.

"My dear Brigadier," the Second Doctor replied in a slightly snappy tone, "It's no use blaming us".

The Brig shook his head, walking away as the Second Hatter sighed, crossing her arms and gave the Doctor a tiered look, "Do we really have to get into an argument, Doctor?"

"He started it," the Second Doctor replied childishly, the Hatter rolled her eyes and followed after the Brig, the Doctor following behind.

"You attract trouble, Doctor, Hatter," the Brig was saying as they quickly caught up with him, looking around, "You always did. Where the devil are we?"

"I'm not sure," the Second Doctor admitted, exchanging concerned with the Second Hatter, "But I…_we_ have some nasty suspicions".

"Wait a minute," the Second Hatter frowned, grabbing the Second Doctor's hand as he moved to walk away, looking off into the distance as she spotted figures moving through the mist, "What's that, I wonder?"

"Huh?" the Brig frowned.

"Over there," the Second Doctor pointed.

"There's something moving," the Brig narrowed his eyes, starting forward only for the Doctor and the Hatter to pull him back.

"No, get down," both Time Lords said, pulling him over to a stone wall and crouching behind it. Suddenly, a metal hand reached through a small gape in the wall and grabbed the Brigs hand, causing him to cry out in pain and surprise. The Second Doctor and the Second Hatter quickly tried to pull him away only for it to be in vain.

"Don't worry, Alistair," the Second Hatter told him as she tried to pull him free with the help of the Second Doctor, she sighed when it became clear that it wasn't going to be that easy before noticing a metal bar sitting on the rocks, quickly picking it up and began hitting the metal hand until it released him.

"Run!" the Doctor shouted, grabbing the Hatter's hand along with the Brigs arm, pulling them away.

…..**The Death Zone, above the valley way**…..

The Third Doctor and the Third Hatter drove along a rocky road on the side of a hill, pulling over for a moment as the fog up ahead of them seemed to thicken.

"What now?" the Doctor muttered, standing up in Bessie, trying to see, "Hatter, can you see anything?"

The Time Lady also stood; narrow her eyes as she tried to see, "No, maybe you should put the headlights on, Doctor. Either way, I would rather not end up in a car crash".

The Third Doctor went to say something but was cut off by the sound of a women screaming just ahead of them. They looked at each other before quickly climbing out of Bessie, "Hang on a minute!" the Doctor called to the women, grabbing a rope out of the back seat, tying it to the front of the car.

"Grab hold of this!" the Third Hatter called down to the women as she helped the Third Doctor to chuck the rope down, "Tie it around your waist and try and use your legs to push yourself up the slop, we'll do the rest!"

They quickly looped some of the rope around a large rock beside them, running back to Bessie and slowly reversed back, pulling the women back up the slop.

"Oh," the women gasped as she managed to stand back up right on the side of the road, the Third Doctor and the Third Hatter quickly ran over to her, "I never thought I'd be so pleased to see anyone".

"I think we should come away from the ledge, don't you?" the Third Doctor smiled, putting his arm around the women, who turned out to be Sarah Jane's shoulders, stepping back on to the middle of the road.

"Wait a moment," Sarah blinked, staring at him before catching sight of the Third Hatter smiling beside him, "It's you. Both of you".

"Of course it's us," the Third Hatter smiled, putting her arm around Sarah's shoulders just as the Third Doctor was, "Hello, Sarah Jane Smith".

"No, no," she shook her head, looking back to the Third Doctor, "It's you, _you_".

He nodded, "That's right".

"No," Sarah repeated, looking confused, "No, you changed remember? You became all, er…" she trailed off, gesturing to her mouth and hair.

"Teeth and curls?" the Time Lords suggested, remembering something Jo Grant had mentioned a while ago.

"Yes," Sarah nodded.

"Yes, well, maybe I did," the Third Doctor replied, not sounding too pleased with the idea, "But I haven't yet".

"It's all very complicated," the Third Hatter smiled, letting her know it was alright that she didn't understand.

"Oh, I see," Sarah nodded, still looking confused, shaking her head, "No, I don't. never mind," she looked back to the Time Lords, frowning, "Yes, well, thank you very much for rescuing me, Doctor, Hatter, and now perhaps you'll explain why I'm here to need rescuing".

The Third Doctor exchanged looks with the Third Hatter, turning back to Sarah, "Steady on, Sarah Jane. We're not exactly here by choice either, you know".

"Then, what are we doing here?"

"Not to worry, Sarah Jane," the Third Hatter patted her arm, "We'll try and explain. Now, let's get back in the car, shall we?"

They both nodded and began walking back to Bessie, picking the rope up as they did and climbed into the car, Sarah Jane in the back and the Time Lords at the front, driving off down the road.

….….**The Fifth Doctor's TARDIS**…

Tegan and Turlough helped the Fifth Doctor to stand on his own feet while the Fourth Hatter remained unconscious, still lying on the console floor, whatever was happening seemed to be affecting her fair worse than the Fifth Doctor for some reason.

"I've got to…" the Fifth Doctor breathed, trailing off as he frowned, looking confused, "What is it I've got to do?"

"You said something about a signal?" Tegan reminded him, struggling slightly to support his weight.

"About being whole," Turlough added helpfully.

"Ah yes, of course," the Fifth Doctor nodded, stumbling slightly as he made his way toward the console, grabbing hold of the edge as his companions moved to the side, watching him, "A recall signal".

"What's the signal for, Doctor?" Tegan asked slowly, wanting to make sure he understood, "Who's it to?"

"I must send a signal," the Fifth Doctor repented, slightly stronger, "They'll hear it," he close his eyes tightly in pain, "That'll bring them".

"Doctor, tell us where the signal control is so we can help you," Tegan tried again, looking slightly desperate.

"It's…" he pushed them out of the way as he moved to the over side of the console, "It's…" without warning, he collapsed, face first into the console, leaving Tegan and Turlough to do nothing more but exchange worried looks.

…**The Death Zone, a slightly different part from the others**….

"What horrid creatures you have meet, Doctor, Susan," the First Hatter shook her head as they made their way toward the Dark Tower, walking through a scrubby moorland as Susan and the First Doctor told of their past adventures, "And yet, I feel strangle jealous and regretful for not joining you when I had the chance to travel".

"They weren't all bad, Aunty Hatter," Susan smiled, linking her arm through the older Time Ladies like she did when she was a child, "And it's not too late to travel, is it Grandfather?"

"Hmm?" the First Doctor said before nodding, "Susan's right, Hatter, you could always travel with me after we leave here".

"It's very tempting," the First Hatter admitted, sighing slightly as she shook her head, "But I can't. My children may no longer need me but I believe that things never happen twice. If and when I do leave, I will do so on my own, without anyone to hold my hand. I've spent my entire life being around people, letting people control my life. When I leave, I want to leave that all behind me and start a brand new chapter. Travelling with you might be like that but I wish to find out for myself what I can do on my own. I do hope that you understand, Doctor, Susan?"

"I understand, my dear," the First Doctor nodded, hiding his disappointment, "And I believe that it is a very good idea".

They continued walking until they came across a couple of rocks, "Oh, it's no good," the First Doctor sighed, sitting heavily on one of the rocks, "I shall have to rest".

"Oh, yes, of course, Grandfather," Susan nodded, turning back around and walking back toward the First Doctor, the Hatter following behind her, sitting beside the First Doctor as she too felt the effects from all the walking, "I'll just go and take another look".

"Yes, yes," the First Doctor replied, slightly breathless.

"Be careful," the First Hatter warned, gently patting the First Doctor's back.

"I will," Susan nodded, turning and walking a little bit away, "Look," she called back to them, looking excited about something in the distance, "Come and see".

"Hmm?" the First Doctor asked, standing up and helping the First Hatter, following after Susan, "What?" they looked to where she was looking to see a blue telephone box from the 60's standing close by, "Goodness me! The TARDIS!"

"The TARDIS?" the First Hatter frowned, looking confused, "But why does it still look like a phone box? It should have changed to match its surroundings".

"The chameleon circuit broke while we were in 1963," Susan told her, "What's it doing here?" she asked, looking at the First Doctor.

"I suggest we go an find out," he smiled, putting his arms around both girls, leading them toward the time machine.

…**The Fifth Doctor's TARDIS**…

"He's only just about conscious," Tegan sighed, looking at the Fifth Doctor before glancing at the Fourth Hatter who was lying beside him, "And she's completely out to it".

"If only they managed to send that signal," Turlough groaned, massaging his temple, feeling a headache coming on from all the stress.

On the other side of the room, the First Doctor, the First Hatter, and Susan walked in through the TARDIS doors, looking around as Susan made her way over to the console, pressing a button to close the doors, making Tegan and Turlough jump to their feet.

"Who are you?" Tegan demanded.

"More to the point," the First Doctor glared at them, walking closer to them while the First Hatter stood back, frowning, "What are you young people doing inside my TARDIS?"

"It's his TARDIS," Tegan frowned, gesturing to the Fifth Doctor on the floor.

"And who might he be?" the First Doctor demanded, looking down at his future self.

"The Doctor," Turlough replied, gesturing toward the Fourth Hatter, "Oh, and the Hatter".

"Excuse me?" the First Hatter blinked, moving to stand beside the First Doctor, looking down at the younger man and women, "Oh my…"

"Hmm?" the First Doctor shook his head, glancing at the First Hatter before his eyes widened as he realised, looking back to his future self, "Good grief".

The Fifth Doctor began to stir, slowly opening his eyes as he caught sight of his past self, "You're here," he breathed weakly as he tried to sit up, his eyes widening even further as he caught sight of the First Hatter, "You're here".

"Yes, evidently," the First Doctor replied, glancing out of the corner of his eye toward his Hatter before looking at the newest, shaking his head he quickly held out his hand toward his future self, "Now, take it steadily, my boy, and let me help you up".

"I…we tried to send the recall signal," the Fifth Doctor informed him as he was pulled up, looking slightly dazed as he let go of the First Doctor's hand, "The Hatter…" he trailed off, suddenly looking deeply concerned as he spotted his Hatter still lying on the floor, "Hatter!"

The other's watched as the Fifth Doctor dropped to his knees beside the Fourth Hatter and pulled her limp head into his lap, "What's wrong with her, Doctor?" Tegan asked worriedly, eyeing the blonde Time Lady.

"Not now, Tegan," the Fifth Doctor shook his head, focusing all of his attention on the Fourth Hatter, very gently tapping her cheek, "Hatter, come on. Wake up, Hatter; we have some guests that you're going to want to meet".

Slowly, her eyes began to open and she blinked a few times to bring things into focus, wincing slight, "Ow," she groaned, shifting slight, "I feel like I've been hit on the back of the head with a sledge hammer and trust me, that hurts".

"I'll take your word for it," the Fifth Doctor smiled, looking relieved, "Do you think you can stand?"

"Doctor, I'm a Time Lady," the Fourth Hatter rolled her eyes, "Of course I can, I just might need a little help".

The Fifth Doctor nodded and carefully helped her to stand, putting an arm around her to partly steady her and partly because he was still feeling worried about how long she had been unconscious for. As soon as they were standing, the Fourth Hatter's eyes widened and her mouth dropped at seeing Susan, the First Doctor, and her first self.

"A little warning might have been nice," the Fourth Hatter muttered, shooting her Doctor a look while she took in her first self who was staring at her, looking shocked, "Hello…me".

"Hello," the First Hatter nodded, unable to look away, "Are you truly…me?"

"Afraid so," the Fourth Hatter replied, sticking her hands inside her jean pockets and rocking back and forth slightly, "This is a turn up," she commented, titling her head slightly, shrugging, "I mean, it's not like I've never met myself before. I once had my future self-drop into my TARDIS, I was a little rude at first but she seemed more amused by my behaviour then anything. So, still living on Gallifrey?"

"Oh, yes," the First Hatter nodded, still looking surprised while the others watched from beside them, "I take it that you are not?"

The Fourth Hatter made a slight face, laughing, "Me? Living on Gallifrey? I think I would end up killing myself from boredom. No, I'm travelling the Universe, just dropping in to say hello to the Doctor when all of this started happening," she cast a warning glance toward Tegan, Turlough, and the Fifth Doctor not to correct her. No one needed to know the real reason why, it would only upset them.

"Goodness," the First Hatter breathed, looking shocked again, "I was most certainly not expecting this".

"Nor were we," the Fourth Hatter nodded.

The First Doctor cleared his throat, "Well, then, how do you come to be here?"

"Well, the TARDIS was, er…" the Fifth Doctor tailed off, staring at Susan before shaking his head, looking confused, "I don't know".

"Never mind that," the First Doctor waved it off.

"Are they really…" Susan began but the First Doctor and the First Hatter cut her off.

"Us?" the First Doctor and the First Hatter glanced at other while the Fourth Hatter looked delighted at seeing Susan again, "Yes. Yes, we're afraid so. Regeneration?"

"Fourth," the Fifth Doctor replied.

"Goodness me!" the First Doctor's eyes winded, looking surprised and delighted, "So, there are five of me now!" he looked toward the Fourth Hatter, "And you, young lady?"

"Third," the Fourth Hatter replied, smiling, "And I'm hardly young, I'm older then you, well, now I am, anyway," she turned to Susan, stepping forward slightly as she grinned broadly, "Now, Susan, my girl. How are you? It amazes me to think of how much you have grown from the little girl who used to beg me to tell her a bedtime story".

"I'm well, um…" Susan frowned, not quite sure what to call her, it didn't feel right to call this other women 'Aunty' when she hardly knew her.

"Just call me Hatter," the blonde Time Lady shrugged, having a good idea what was going through the younger Time Ladies head. Susan was always easy to read, you could practically see what she was thinking, or maybe that was just because she had known her since the day she was born, "Less confusing that way".

The First Doctor smiled slight as he looked between Susan and the Fourth Hatter, glade to see that nothing had seemed to change. He caught his future self's eye and quickly looked away, walking over to the young man with red hair and the women with short brown hair and red dress on, asking, "And, er, you two are…?"

"Turlough," the red headed man introduced, shaking the First Doctor hand.

"And I'm Tegan Jovanka," the young women with the red dress shook his hand, "Who might you be?"

"I might be any number of things, young lady," the First Doctor said, "As it happens, I am the Doctor. The original, you might say".

"And I'm the Hatter," the older women with the grey hair smiled politely at them, shaking their hands, "Charming to meet you".

Tegan frowned, looking in between the two Doctor's and Hatter's, "But you shouldn't be here at the same time, with them," she looked confused, "Should you?"

"Certainly not," the First Hatter nodded gravely.

"It only happens in the gravest emergencies," the Fifth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter explained, exchanging smiles as they did.

"Like now," the First Doctor added while the First Hatter nodded.

"Yes, unfortunately," the Fifth Doctor muttered, earning being hit on his arm by the Fourth Hatter.

"No need to be like that, Doctor," she told him sternly.

"Now look, young lady," the First Doctor said to Tegan, glancing toward the Fifth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter, "Make yourself useful. These young fellows look as though they need some refreshment and I know Susan, my Hatter, and I do, too".

Tegan put a hand on her hip, "Hang on a minute".

"Doctor, do something," the Fourth Hatter muttered to the Fifth Doctor, "You know what your first self was like".

The Fifth Doctor quickly nodded, hurrying over to Tegan, "Tegan, Tegan, Tegan. Humour him. You know, I sometimes used to get a little techy," he smiled at his Hatter, "Fortunately one mellows with age," Tegan still didn't look very happy so he pointed at Turlough, "Turlough will help".

"Thank you," Turlough muttered, sending the Fifth Doctor a look as he followed after Tegan, opening the console door and headed toward the kitchen.

"Great," the Fourth Hatter sighed quietly, "Now we have a techy Time Lord, a Time Lady who has never been anywhere beside her home planet, an even younger Time Lady, and two human companions who are upset at you, Doctor. This is going to be fun".

Before the Fifth Doctor could reply, his future self-walked around the console and turned toward them, "And now, young man, young women, tell me all about it".

The Fourth Hatter and the Fifth Doctor glanced at each other and toward Susan before they began to explain everything they could.

_**You have no idea how odd it is to write about the Hatter not knowing what a Dalek is when you think about all the things that happen to her because of them, or how she reacts to them in the future, travelling with the Tenth Doctor. And I did reference to the Ninth Hatter when the Fourth Hatter talked about meeting her future self. Also, we've finally got the Hatter's children's names, and yes, the Hatter did name her first child, her son, after the Doctor. I hope you liked it, please review and tell me what you thought :)**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**The Five Doctor's and Hatter's, part 3.**_

_**Conference room, Gallifrey.**_

"The Seal of the High Council," Flavia told the Master, walking over to where he was preparing to be sent into the Death Zone, passing him a golden coin like object, "It may help to convince the Doctors and Hatters of your good faith".

He took the Seal, glancing up at her as he nodded wearily as he knew full well how unlikely that was going to be, "Perhaps," he muttered more to himself than anyone else.

"It's time to go," Castellan informed him, joining them, "When you have something to tell us, activate this," he passed him a round device with a small button on the front, the Master carefully took it, making sure not to touch the button, "We will pick up your signal and transmit you back".

The Master nodded as he looked toward Borusa, raising his eyebrows, "Isn't anyone gonna wish me luck?"

"We wish you success," Boruse replied, adding, "For all our sakes".

Flavia moved away as the Master stepped back into the transmit cubicle and Castellan began to activate it, a moment later, the Master disappeared, "And now, we wait," Castellan remarked, turning to Flavia.

"I would prefer to wait alone," Boruse told them, placing a gloved hand on top of the harp he was sitting beside, behind him, hanging on the wall was a picture of the same harp being played by a male Time Lord.

Flavia nodded respectively and left the room as Castellan frowned at Boruse, nodding slowly as he eyed him before following the older Time Lady out, closing the door behind them.

…..…**The Death Zone**…

The Master walked along, looking around a scrubby marsh land that he had arrived in as he noticed a chard skeleton, still wearing High Council robes. He approached it and nudged it with his boot, smirking, "One of my predecessors".

He shook his head and continued on his way but after only taking a few steps, he was stopped by a bight bolt of energy, shooting from the sky and only just missing him.

"Not the most hospitable of environments," he commented, eyeing the burnt patch on the grass that had been left behind before quickly hurrying on, keeping an eye out for anymore bolts of energy.

….….**The Death Zone, a rocky valley**….

The Second Doctor, the Second Hatter, and the Brig continued walking before pausing as they caught sight of a large Tower just visible in the distance. The two Time Lords exchanged looks.

"It's just as we feared," the Second Doctor sighed, "We're on Gallifrey, in the Death Zone".

"And here I thought things couldn't get any worse with the Cybermen," the Second Hatter groaned, taking her glasses off and cleaning them with the bottom of her dress, "The Death Zone," she frowned slightly as she cast an eye around her surroundings, "But If this is Gallifrey, why isn't the sky burnt orange or the grass red?"

"It is the Death Zone," the Doctor replied, shrugging as if it was obvious.

"And that's your way of saying that you haven't got a clue why it doesn't resemble anything to do with Gallifrey, isn't it?"

He cast her a look, unable to stop the small smile from spreading across her his face, "Indeed it is, my dear Hatter," he nodded to her, making her smile at him.

The Brig blinked, looking at them both, thinking over what they had just said about the Death Zone, "You know this place?" he stared at them.

"To our deepest regret and shame," the Second Hatter shook her head, looking at the Tower in distaste, continuing as she noticed the surprised look the Brig was giving her, "Oh yes, ours, Alistair, and that of every other Time Lord".

"In the days before Rassilon, our ancestors had tremendous powers which they misused disgracefully," the Second Doctor nodded, continuing from were the Second Hatter left off, "They set up this place, the Death Zone, and walled it around with an impenetrable force field, and then they kidnapped other beings and sat them down here".

"But what for?" the Brig frowned.

The Second Hatter shook her head, moving to begin walking again, "We'll explain as we go. Come along, Doctor".

The Brig grabbed the Second Doctor's arm, stopping him from following, "Where are we going?"

"To the Tower," the Time Lord told him, pointing at it in the distance, "To Rassilon, the greatest single figure in Time Lord history".

"Is that where he lives?"

"Not exactly, Alistair," the Second Hatter smiled pleasantly, turning back around to face them, "That's his tomb".

The Brig stared at her as she turned and started walking again, acting as if this was the simplest thing in the world. The Second Doctor patted him on his back, not bothering to hide the amused look on his face as he quickly hurried after the Time Lady, linking his arm through hers, leaving the Brig to chase after them once he got over the shock.

…**The fifth Doctor's TARDIS**…

Tegan, Turlough, and Susan were sitting in the console room around a small table covered in exotic foods, sipping punch from glasses while Susan ate. The two Doctor's and Hatter's were standing by the console while they talked.

"You're talking nonsense, my boy, my girl," the First Doctor dismissed them as they tried to tell him what they thought was best to do, "We must send the signal as planned and wait for the others".

"No, there's no time," the Fifth Doctor shook his head as the Fourth Hatter nodded her agreement, "We must leave immediately. Temporal instability's already affecting me…" the Fourth Hatter nudged his side, making him glance at her and smile, "Oh, I'm sorry, Hatter. I meant to say we".

The blonde Time Lady raised her eyebrows at him, "I'm sure you did, my dear, Doctor".

The First Doctor watched them before shaking his head, getting back on topic, "And without our other selves, we'll be little use out there".

"Well, they'll never make it!" the Fifth Doctor exclaimed, getting frustrated that his past self didn't understand, "There is evil at work".

Tegan's head snapped around to look at them, "Evil?"

The Time Lords turned to them, "We're in the Death Zone on Gallifrey," the First Doctor replied.

"I always hoped I would never come here," the Fourth Hatter remarked, shoving her hands inside her pockets, glancing at her past self who was looking quite pale, "Are you alright?" she asked, the First Hatter's head snapped toward her.

"Oh…yes," she nodded, forcing herself to smile, "I am quite fine, thank you. Just a little…" she trailed off, gesturing around herself, "Well, this is the first time since my school years that I have behaved like this".

"You'll get used to it," the Fourth Hatter smiled, walking over to her and patting her shoulder, "Just you wait. There's an entire Universe out there for you to explore, adventures to be had, friends to make, and so much running to do".

The other Time Lady laughed, "I'm afraid that it is quite hard for me to imagine my life being so…different".

"A good different or bad?" the Fifth Doctor asked curiously, he was finding it hard to see this Hatter so different from the one he was used to.

"Give me some time to adapt and I'll inform you of my answer," the First Hatter said after a moment of thinking before she broke out in a small, almost shy smile, "But I cannot say that I am not enjoying myself".

"Wonderful, my dear," the First Doctor smiled, feeling pleased that his Hatter hadn't lost her love for adventure in the years that they had been apart despite everything.

"I'm sorry," Turlough cut in, frowning as he looked at the First Doctor, "But how can you be so sure this is the…" he thought about it, "The Death Zone on Gallifrey, I think you said it was?"

"Well, the Tomb of Rassilon," the Fifth Doctor said as if it was obvious, shaking his head at his companions as he turned back to his past self, "Look, can we really afford to wait, especially if someone is tapping his power?"

"Well, what do you intend to do, young man?" the other man asked, eyeing his future self.

"Go to the Tower of course," the Fourth Hatter replied, stepping beside her Doctor who nodded his agreement, "What else can we do? And we must do something".

"But there could be great danger!" the First Doctor and Hatter frowned, determined to follow their plan, both believing that they knew best rather then there future selves.

The Fifth Doctor almost groaned in frustration, glancing at his Hatter to see her looking as if she wanted to pull her hair out before turning back to his past self, taking a deep breath, "Help us set up the computer scanner".

"That why we'll be able to see what is happening at the very least," the Fourth Hatter nodded.

The First Doctor and Hatter looked at each other, slowly nodding there agreement before they set to work on the console beside there future selves, not noticing the looks they were being given by Tegan, Turlough, and Susan as they did.

….….**The Death Zone, on a gravel road somewhere**….

The Third Doctor, the Third Hatter, and Sarah Jane were driving along in Bessie as the two Time Lords explained to Sarah about the Death Zone.

"All of this was the setting for the games," the Third Doctor told Sarah, glancing at her in his revision mirror, "But old Rassilon put a stop to it in the end…"

"Sounds like the type of man I would get along with," the Third Hatter remarked, staring straight ahead of her.

"Quite," the Third Doctor smiled, glancing back at Sarah, "He sealed off the entire Zone and forbade the use of the Time Scoop, until now".

"But why don't they just tell us why we're here?" Sarah questioned.

The Third Doctor didn't reply at first, instead he pulled to a stop before turning around to face her, "Because they delight in deviousness, that's why".

"They remind me of us when we were in school," the Time Lady commented, also turning around in her seat to look at Sarah, "You see, it amuses them, throwing us in the deep end and waiting for us to sick while they watch from the side lines," she rolled her eyes, "Kind of them, yes?"

Sarah shivered slightly, frowning as she looked around, "Why have we stopped?"

"So I can get my bearings," the Third Doctor replied, standing up so he could see over the window and into the distance, "Ah ha," he pointed over to a large Tower, standing not far away, "There it is. Hatter, have a look".

"What?" Sarah asked, looking at them as the Third Hatter stood and took a look for herself before sitting back down, nodding.

"The Tomb of Rassilon," the Time Lady told her as the Third Doctor sat back in his seat, "That's where we're going. Fascinating, really".

"Yes, I'm curious myself," the Third Doctor smiled, patting her hand gently before he started Bessie and they began to make their way down the road again.

"Look, do you really think this is wise, Doctor, Hatter?" Sarah asked after a moment of them driving, looking worried, "I mean, well, wherever's in that Tower, it's got enormous powers and, what can we do against it?"

"What we've always done, Sarah Jane," the Third Hatter smiled, glancing at her, catching her eye in the mirror and winking, "Improvise, of course".

Sarah shook her head as they continued driving until they heard a man's voice calling them, "Doctor, Hatter, wait!"

The Third Doctor slammed the brakes and came to a stop. They turned around in their seats to see a man dressed all in black, standing close by them, waving.

"Who's that?" Sarah gasped, staring at the man.

"I don't know," the Third Doctor frowned, shaking his head as the Third Hatter narrowed her eyes at the man, "Hatter?"

"Perhaps," she frowned, glancing at him, "But he does remind me most strongly of someone. Someone not very pleasant".

The Third Doctor's eyes widened, "No, it couldn't be," he breathed, the Third Hatter's eye widened as she realised who the man was. He shook his head and quickly reversed Bessie, coming to a stop as the man approached them, "Jehoshaphat!" he exclaimed, "It really is you," he shook his head, exchanging looks with the Third Hatter, "Yes, well, we should have known you'd be behind all this".

"Doctor, Hatter, who is it?" Sarah asked, eyeing the man with a flicker of fear, quickly realising that this was not the type of person to meddle with, unless you're the Doctor and Hatter, of course.

"Well, you've meet my best friend," the Third Doctor replied, nodding to the Third Hatter, turning back to the man, "Now you've meet my best enemy".

"Our best enemy," the Third Hatter corrected, making Sarah blink, "He likes to be known as the Master," she cast the man a dark look, "Don't you? Oh, but dear me, you've changed since last we saw you. Did you get it a little trouble? Another regeneration, perhaps?"

"Not exactly," the Master replied vaguely.

"I take it you are responsible for our being in the Death Zone?" the Third Doctor raised his eyebrows, not liking the way the Master's eye continued to flicker toward the Hatter. He suddenly felt an unexpected urge to drive away as fast as Bessie would allow, shouting at the Master that the Hatter was his. Sadly, reality sank in as he realised how ridicules all of that was, still, it would be a good plan.

"For once, I'm innocent," the Third Doctor and the Third Hatter exchanged disbelieving looks, struggling not to laugh, "I am here at the High Council's request to help you, and you're other selves".

"You?" the Third Doctor stared at him, "Sent here by the Time Lords to help us? I've never heard suck arrant nonsense".

"How foolish do you think we are?" the Third Hatter glared at him, "As if the Time Lords would send a murderer, not to mention a madman".

"I happen to be telling the truth," the Master sighed, holding up the golden Seal he was given by the Council for them to see, "I carry the Seal of the High Council".

"Yes, forged, no doubt".

"See for yourself," the Master stepped forward and handed them the Seal, letting them examine it.

"Stolen, then," the Third Doctor commented, passing it to the Third Hatter.

"Not to worry," she told him, tucking the Seal into her pocket, "We'll return it as soon as possible, or though, I highly doubt that you are worried at all".

"If you would only listen," the Master tried, stepping closer, the Third Doctor made sure to put himself in front of the Third Hatter as Sarah shrunk back into her seat, eyeing the cold Time Lord, "I'm here to help".

"You?" the Third Hatter blinked at him, "Help us? Perhaps you would help us into an earlier grave but I can't ever see you willing helping us".

"This is some kind of trap," the Third Doctor nodded.

"I knew this was going to be difficult," the Master told them, "But I didn't realise that you would both be so stupid as to make it impossible".

The Third Hatter opened her mouth to give him an angry remark but she was cut off by a bolt of energy suddenly hitting the ground next to them, the Master only just jumping out of the way in time.

"I knew it," the Third Doctor shook his head, "A trap".

"These thunderbolts are everywhere," the Master muttered to himself, looking surprised.

The Third Doctor frowned at him, shaking his head as he started Bessie again but Sarah grabbed his shoulder, "No, we can't leave him," she gasped.

"Trust us," the Third Hatter patted her arm, "This is the safest thing," but even she was feeling slightly unsure after seeing the Master's reaction, "But perhaps you're right…"

"No," the Third Doctor shook his head firmly, "You just watch me," and with that, he quickly started driving down the road while the Master continued to trying to dodge the bolts of energy, his black cape billowing behind him as he did.

….**The Fifth Doctor's TARDIS**….

The Fifth Doctor, the First Doctor, the First Hatter, and the Fourth Hatter were standing around the monitor on the TARDIS console, watching as the a diagram of the Dark Tower was drawn on it.

"Now, as far as we can make out, there are three entrances," the Fifth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter explained, pointing at the diagram on screen, "One above, one below, and the main door here".

"Which do you plan to use?" the First Doctor asked, eyeing them, still unsure.

The Fifth Doctor glanced at the Fourth Hatter and back, "Er, well, the main door".

"I still think you should wait," the First Doctor shook his head, turning to his Hatter, "What of you, my dear?"

"Me?" the First Hatter blinked, looking startled to be asked, "Oh, well, I think that perhaps it would be best to wait…" she trailed off, glancing shyly toward her future self and the Fifth Doctor, "But I also agree that we must do something".

"Baby steps," the Fourth Hatter smiled, patting the other Time Lady's shoulder, knowing how difficult her past self would be finding all of this even with her Doctor. Her marriage had stolen and crushed most of what she used to be, and with the Doctor and Susan gone, she really didn't have much reason to pretend to still be the same women that she was before.

"If only it was that easy," the First Hatter sighed.

"Trust me," the Fourth Hatter grinned, "After this little adventure, you'll be ready to embrace a new side to yourself," she winked at the other women, "Perhaps in more ways than you think".

The Fifth Doctor smiled softly, watching the two Hatter's before shaking his head, turning back to his past self, "Well, there may be very little time".

.…**The Death Zone, on a gravel road somewhere**…..

The Third Doctor, Hatter, and Sarah Jane sighed as they walked away from the now smoking remains of Bessie, something that had come as a great blow to the two Time Lords who were both very fond of the old car.

"You see what we mean?" the Third Doctor asked Sarah, glancing behind him, shaking his head, "A trap".

Sarah exchanged looks with the Time Lady, following after the Third Doctor as they continued walking along the road.

…..**Conference room, Gallifrey**…..

"Is there nothing you can do to retrieve them?" Borusa asked one of the technicians that he had called as he worked on a device, turning back to look at the computer screen were the image of the Fourth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter was, appearing to have waves running through it.

"Nothing, my Lord President," the young technician replied, shaking his head, "With the present energy drain, it is beyond our resources".

Borusa sighed, nodding understandably, "You use what spare energy you have to stabilise that portion of the Vortex in which they are trapped. It may at least give the remaining Doctors and Hatters more time".

"Lord President," the young man nodded, picking up his clip board from the table and walking out, passing Castellan as he entered the room.

"No news from the Master?" he asked Borusa, glancing up at the computer screen as he walked over to the table, placing his hands on the top.

Borusa smiled faintly, raising his eyebrows, "Did you really think that there would be?"

….….**The Death Zone, a rocky valley**….

"I've been thinking," the Second Hatter remarked as they continued making their way toward the Dark Tower.

"Oh dear," the Second Doctor said, giving her a teasing smile, "You really mustn't do that, my dear, Hatter. You know what happens when you think".

"Don't think I won't slap you, Doctor," the Time Lady gave him an overly sweet look, the Second Doctor swallowed hard and stepped a couple of steps away from her, seeing the serious glint in her eyes, "As I was saying before a short man with a big mouth interrupted," she shot said man a playful glare as the Brig chuckled at the pouting look on the Second Doctor's face, "I wonder, you don't think that Rassilon himself could have brought us here?"

"Hang on, Hatter, Doctor," the Brig frowned, "You said this chap Rassilon was dead. You did say that was his tomb?"

"Oh, it is," the Second Doctor nodded, thinking over what the Second Hatter had brought up, she did have a good theory, "But no one really knows how extensive his powers were".

The Brig stared at them, "He could still be _alive_?"

"Watching us at this very moment," the Second Hatter said, deepening her voice to add effect, which seemed to work on the Brigadier while the Second Doctor hid his smile.

"Didn't you say he was supposed to be rather a good type?"

"So the official history says," the Second Doctor told him, "But there are many rumours and legends to the contrary".

"Some say his fellow Time Lords rebelled against his cruelty and locked him in the Tower in eternal sleep," the Second Hatter added before shrugging, "But then again, some of the popular rumours say he went in there willing so he could escape into himself so he could gain a better understanding of the Universe".

The Brig raised his eyebrows, "And now he's woken up again?"

"Well, it would explain a great deal," the Second Doctor said before his eyes widened, "Oh dear," he looked at the Second Hatter, "You do relies what this could mean, yes?"

She gave him a confused look before it dawned on her, "I do hope that we are wrong, Doctor".

"Hmm?" the Brig asked, looking in-between the two Time Lords.

"We could we playing the Game of Rassilon at this very moment," the Second Doctor said gravely.

"Your tone doesn't inspire much confidence," the Brig said, eyeing them both, "I assume we're not expected to win".

The Second Doctor and Hatter exchanged looks before shaking their heads, "Come on," the Second Doctor said, taking the Hatter's hand as they started making the way toward the Tower once more.

….**The Fifth Doctor's TARDIS**….

The Fifth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter were typing something into the console on the TARDIS when Turlough approached them, "Even if you…" he began to say but the Doctor held up his hand, Turlough rolled his eyes and continued, "Even if you reach this Tower, what are you going to do?"

"Er, release the TARDIS," the Fifth Doctor told him, not looking up from the controls, "The computer scanner's located the force field generator".

"I'll come with you," Susan said, the Fourth Hatter glanced toward her, frowning slightly.

"Hmm," the Fifth Doctor nodded absentmindedly.

"Doctor…" the Fourth Hatter started but Tegan cut her off.

"I'd like to come, too".

The Doctor's and Hatter's turned around from the console, "No," the First Doctor shook his head, "I think it would be safer if you were to remain here with me," he glanced toward the Fourth Hatter, "You as well, my dear".

The Fourth Hatter rolled her eyes, crossing her arms, "Think again".

"Yes," the Fifth Doctor nodded, putting his hand on his Hatter's shoulder, "I would much rather my Hatter stay with me," he pointedly ignored the knowing look he was being sent by his companions, "Just as…just as your Hatter would be safer with you".

"Very well," the First Doctor sighed, agreeing reluctantly.

"Well, I'd like to go with him," Tegan cut in, nodding to her Doctor.

"Er, yes, yes, all right," the Fifth Doctor nodded, casting his past self a weary look, concerned that he might cause some trouble now that he had refused on not just Tegan but the Hatter, as well. He shook his head and turned to walk away before he quickly spun back around to face his past self with the Fourth Hatter beside him, "Now, you'll bring the TARDIS to the Tower as soon as we switch off the force field".

"Of course," the First Doctor replied, slightly irritated.

"We didn't mean for it to sound like that," the Fourth Hatter told him quickly, exchanging looks with her Doctor, "It's just…well, we're both used to explaining things to human's that it's a little odd for us to be able to say things and have someone understand perfectly. You'll understand…maybe?"

The First Doctor smiled, patting her arm gently, "I apologise, my dear, I did not mean to snap".

The Fifth Doctor blinked at him, it wasn't very often that his past self would say sorry about many things, least of all something as simple as this, but then again, the Hatter in any regeneration wasn't just anyone, "Right," he shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts as he made his way over to the controls, "Better get started".

"Time's running out," the Fourth Hatter added, flicking a switch on the controls, making the doors open.

"Eureka!" the Fifth Doctor grinned, linking his arm through his Hatter's as they made their way outside the doors, Susan and Tegan following after them.

…._**The Death Zone, a grassy hill somewhere**_….

"I thought we were going to the Tower," Sarah comment to the Third Doctor and Hatter as they made their way up the side of a grassy hill, avoiding tress and rocks on their way.

"We are," the two Time Lords replied simply, not looking back at her.

"Then why this way?"

The Third Hatter stopped, turning to her as she pointed toward the outline of a large mountain in the distance, just visible through the fog, "Because, my dear, Sarah Jane, the mountains are between us and the Tower," she explained, "That's why".

"Can't we find an easier way?" Sarah sighed, she wasn't exactly wearing the best boots to go mountain climbing.

"No, it'd take too long," the Third Doctor shook his head, frowning as something caught his eye. Both girls looked at each other before following his line of sight to see a patrol of Cybermen walking below them, beginning to climb the same hill that they just had, "So, the Master has used the Time Scoop to bring others as well as us here".

"Perhaps," the Third Hatter frowned, something wasn't quite right about all of this, even with the Master being involved. She shook her head and grabbed the Doctor's and Sarah's arms, casting one last glace down at the Cybermen, "Never mind that, let's get out of here. Come on".

Sarah and the Third Doctor didn't need telling twice as they quickly followed after her, Sarah Jane glancing over her shoulder every now and then, trying to see the Cybermen.

….._**The Fifth Doctor's TARDIS**_…

Turlough sighed as he leant against the side of the console, looking at the monitor as he glanced at the First Doctor and Hatter, "Do you think it will take the Doctor and the Hatter long to reach the Tower?"

"I am afraid that it depends what may try to stop them," the First Hatter told him quietly, standing close to the Doctor. She wasn't used to this sort of thing, not since her school days had she done anything like this, and even then it was still very different. To be honest, it was quite overwhelming; she was still amazed to see that her future self-seemed so at ease with everything going on around her.

The First Doctor nodded his agreement, "Oh, it's not without reason that it's called the Death Zone, my boy," he shook his head, catching sight of three blinking dots on the monitor screen, "Great heavens. Two more traces".

"Time Lords?" Turlough asked, glancing at the screen.

"Two more Doctors," the First Hatter explained, "The scanner is keyed into his…" she nodded to First Doctor standing beside her, "_There_ brain patterns".

"What about you?" Turlough questioned her.

The First Hatter smiled faintly, "From what I have seen of your Hatter, she seems to spend quite a bit of time with you and her Doctor. But that does not mean that this is my TARDIS. The TARDIS has the Doctor's biological imprint on it, making him able to form a link with it while I do not. I can fly and control his TARDIS but aside from that, I have as much power as you do. Therefore, it cannot pick up on any of my other selves because my brain pattern does not register".

"Well, well, well, so two of them made it," the First Doctor remarked after a moment, looking back at the screen as Turlough thought over what the Hatter had told him, "I wonder what happened to the other".

"I for one hope that it was nothing serious," the First Hatter remarked, exchanging looks with her Doctor.

…_**The Death Zone, base of the Dark Tower**_…

The Second Doctor, the Second Hatter, and the Brigadier were making their way closer to the Dark Tower, climbing over rocks as they neared one of the entrances into the Tower, all the while the Second Doctor and Hatter sang, "Who to Rassilon's Tower would go, must chose below. No, no, no who unto Rassilon's Tower will go, must choose above, between, below".

"Are you in pain, Doctor, Hatter?" the Brig asked them, giving them odd looks as they came to a stop by a burning beacon with small, not yet lit metal touchers close to the entrance into a large cave.

The Hatter laughed, quickly covering it up with a cough as the Doctor gave her a look, "Sorry, bit of a tickle," she lied, rubbing her throat as the Doctor shook his head.

"Age has not mellowed you, has it, Brigadier?" the Second Doctor remarked, turning back to the Brig, "I was recalling, in point of fact, an old nursery rhyme about the Dark Tower".

"Does it help?"

"Considerably more than you do," the Second Doctor replied.

"Boys," the Second Hatter cut in, giving them both stern looks, "Play nicely or not at all".

"Yes _mother_," the Second Doctor said, giving her a small smile, pouting when she hit the back of his head, "Ouch! What was that for?"

"That was for you behaving like a child," the Time Lady told him, pushing her glasses further up her nose as they began to slip, "Anyway, Alistair, what the Doctor was going to explain. The nursery rhyme describes the different ways to enter the Tower".

"A nursery rhyme?" the Brig stared at them, shaking his head and rolling his eyes, "I never heard anything so ridiculous".

"Nevertheless, I propose to put it to the test," the Second Doctor shook his head, stepping forward and grabbing on of the metal touches, holding it up into the flames and waiting until it caught on fire, "Come on," he nodded to the other two, stepping away from the beacon with the now burning touch in hand, leading them toward the entrance of the cave, "In here".

The Second Hatter sighed, following after him with the Brigadier and walking into the dark, wet, cave.

…..….._**The Death Zone, a hill somewhere**_….

"Soon be there," the Doctor called over his shoulder as he and the Fourth Hatter ran up the side of a grassy hill, Susan and Tegan following behind them, coming to a stop as they reached the top and looked over the surrounding area.

"I'm finding this quite exhilarating," Susan commented, smiling as she looked around, slightly out of breath.

"I wish I were," Tegan grumbled.

"Now, now, Tegan," the Fourth Hatter wiggled her finger at the other women, a small smile on her face, "No need to be like that".

"Doctor, Hatter!" a man's voice called from below them, making them look down to see the Master standing there, looking up at them.

"The Master," Tegan breathed, looking alarmed as she stepped closer to the Doctor and the Hatter as they lost their smiles, looking stony faced down at the cold Time Lord below.

"Wait here," the Fifth Doctor told them, taking the Fourth Hatter's hand as they walked down the slope toward the Master, looking grim while Tegan and Susan were left to watch from above.

"I know this is going to be hard to believe, Doctor, Hatter," the Master began, "But for once I mean you no harm".

The Fourth Hatter laughed, crossing her arms as she looked coldly at the Master, "That's rich, coming from you of all people".

The Fifth Doctor hid his smile as he glanced at her, turning back to the Master, "Like Alice, I try to believe three impossible things before breakfast," he forced himself not to smile broadly as he noticed the Hatter's eyes brighten at the mention of her favourite book. He shook his head and looked back at the Master, "Go on".

"I've been sent here by the High Council to help you both," the Master informed them, watching as his two old friends, turned enemies moved closer to him.

"I find that very hard to believe," the Fourth Hatter scoffed, "Why in the name of sanity would they pick you of all the other Time Lords in the Universe?"

"I happen to be telling the truth," the Master sighed.

"Oh, I'm sure that's what you would wish us to think," the Fifth Doctor said, eyeing him in case he tried anything, epically with the Hatter present, "Now, are you going to tell us the truth or are we going to have to find out our self's?"

"And when we say that, we mean I punch you and he searches you," the Fourth Hatter added, she hated all forms of violence but when the Master was involved, you never could be too careful, "Understand?"

"Be reasonable, Doctor, Hatter," the Master said to them, making it sound like a warning.

"We are," the Fifth Doctor replied, "We listened".

The Master smirked, pulling out his Tissue Compression Eliminator for them to see, the Fifth Doctor quickly stepped in front of the Hatter, shielding her should the Master use his weapon, "As you can see, I'm armed," the Master said, still smirking coldly at them, "I could easily kill you both if I wanted to".

"And not humiliate us first?" the Fifth Doctor raised his eyebrows, taking no chances when the Hatter was involved, "Oh, that isn't your style at all".

He continued to smirk at them, holding up the teleport device the High Council gave him, "I also have a recall device that'll take me back to the conference room in the heart of the Capitol".

"So you say," the Doctor nodded slowly, still eyeing the other man as the Fourth Hatter frowned, peeking around the Doctor to look at the device, "I would prefer more positive proof of your credentials".

"One of your other selves took it from me," the Master told them.

"And you still expect us to believe this ridicules story that you've just told us?" the Fourth Hatter asked him, raising her eyebrows as she looked at him.

But before the Master could answer her, Tegn's voice suddenly interrupted them, shouting down to them, "Doctor, Hatter, look out!" the three Time Lords looked up at her, "Cybermen!"

The Fifth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter turned to look behind them, seeing a patrol of Cybermen approaching them from down the side of another hill. Both their eyes widened and they quickly looked back up to Susan and Tegan, "Go back!" they shouted to them.

Tegan and Susan seemed to argue about something for a moment before running off, back down the same way they had come. The Fifth Doctor and the Fourth Hatter exchanged looks, turning back to the Master, "After you," the Fifth Doctor said to him.

Needless to say the Master didn't need telling twice as he quickly turned and ran, the Doctor and the Hatter right on his heels.

"Halt!" one of the Cybemen called after them, "Halt or you will be destroyed," and with that, it fired its laser gun at them.

The two shots rang out, one hitting a rock just ahead of the Master, sending shattered fragments of rocks flying and hitting the Master, knocking him out. The second shot had a better aim and hit the Fourth Hatter in her back, causing her to cry out in pain before tumbling into a heap on the ground.

"Hatter!" the Fifth Doctor shouted, running over to her and rolling her over before checking her pulse, "No, no, no…" he breathed as he felt how weak both her hearts were betting, "Come on, Hatter, come on. Everything's going to be alright".

"Is that you medical opinion as a doctor or a hope as my best friend?" the Fourth Hatter breathed, her eyes flickering open as she winced with the pain.

"Don't talk," the Fifth Doctor told her firmly, her heart beat had increased but it was still slower than normal, "We'll get you back to the Capital and you'll be as good as new, again".

"It's too late," she managed to shack her head, lifting her hand up to show him the regeneration energy swirling around it, "Not long now and I'll be a new me. Hmm, I wonder what colour hair I'll have this time".

The Fifth Doctor sighed, glancing over his shoulder to see the Cybermen still walking after them, "Either way, we need to get out of here," he muttered.

"The Master spoke of a recalling device," the Fourth Hatter reminded him, "We could use it to take us to the Capital and even if it doesn't, at least we'll be somewhere reasonably safe".

"Of course," he blinked, very carefully he lifted the Hatter into his arms, taking care not to cause her anymore pain then what she was already feeling as he moved over to the unconscious Master, picking up the small device that had fallen out of his hand as it began to beep.

"You will accompany us," one of the Cybermen told the Time Lords as they approached them.

"Sorry," the Fifth Doctor gave them a smile, still carrying the Fourth Hatter in his arms, making sure that they were both holding onto the device, "Must dash," and with that, he pressed the button on top of the device, still smiling as both he and the Hatter vanished in thin air.

…_**The Death Zone, on top of the grassy hill above where the Fifth Doctor and Fourth Hatter vanished**_….

"Susan, come on!" Tegan shouted to the Time Lady as she stared at the place where the Fifth Doctor and Fourth Hatter had just vanished.

Susan looked at Tegan, shaking her head and quickly running after her but as she did, she tripped over a protruding piece of rock in the ground and almost went face first into the grass, "Ow!" she yelped.

Tegan ran back to her and help her up, "Can you walk?"

"Ow," Susan winced again, struggling to stand, "Just about".

Tegan put her arm around the other women and slowly helped her to walk, keeping an eye out should the Cybermen appear again.

….….._**Conference room, Gallifrey**_…

Flavia, Borusa, and Castellan were gathered around the conference room, waiting for the transmit beam to finish delivering the Fifth Doctor and Fourth Hatter. They all looked up as a red light lit up the room and the Fifth Doctor, carrying the Fourth Hatter appeared.

Not waiting for any questions, he rushed into the room and gently laid the Hatter on top of the table in the middle of the room, ignoring the looks he received for doing so as the regeneration energy began glowering brightly, spreading down the Hatter's body before it shielded her from view.

Everyone covered their eyes as the Fifth Doctor stepped away, wincing as the sound of the Hatter screaming as the pain grew stronger.

_**Did I manage to surprise anyone with the Hatter regenerating? I suppose that this means that there were six Hatters in this story, rather then there being five, but that'll be explained why there were two fourth Hatters. It's something to do with why the Fourth Doctor was trapped in the Time Vortex. I hope you liked it, please review :)**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**The five Doctor's and Hatter's, part 4.**_

_**The Death Zone, moments after the Fifth Doctor and Fourth Hatter vanished.**_

The Master winced as his eyes flicked open, finding himself lying on his back, staring up at the sky. He frowned and glanced at his gloved hand beside him, only to find it empty, the teleport device that he had been holding before being knocked out missing. Well, it didn't take too much to work out just who had stolen it.

Mentally cursing himself, the Master dragged himself back up just as the patrol of Cybermen reached him, "This is not the Doctor or the Hatter," one of the Cybermen stated, watching the Master.

"Take him," the Cyber Leader ordered.

"Oof," the Master winced, rubbing the back of his head, "I've been looking for you," he told them, feeling slightly dizzy from the bump to his head.

"Kill him!" the Cyber Leader ordered this time as two Cybermen began to move towered the Time Lord.

The Master quickly held out his hands, trying to show he meant no harm, "I'm here as your friend".

"Who are you?"

"I am the Mater," the Time Lord told them, "And your loyal servant," he bowled to them before straightening and waiting for them to respond, hoping with both his hearts that they would believe him.

….…..…._**The Fifth Doctor's TARDIS**_….

Susan winced as the First Hatter gently bandaged her ankle while she sat in a chair in the console room, the First Doctor, Turlough, and Tegan watching from behind while Susan told them of what happen when they were in the Death Zone.

"And then?" the Doctor asked, frowning as he thought over what Susan and Tegan had told them thus far. He didn't like what they had said about the Fourth Hatter, no matter what regeneration she may be in; she would always be his Hatter.

"Then they disappeared," Susan sighed, shooting her Hatter a worried look, "He was carrying her in his arms. I couldn't see very clearly from where we were but it looked to me that she was going to regenerate".

The First Hatter took Susan's hand and gave it a pat, trying to reassure her, "If she is with the Doctor, then I can think of no one better to care for her".

"Hmm," the Doctor nodded thoughtfully, ignoring how his heart speed up when he heard his Hatter say that, focusing on more pressuring issues as he made his way over to the controls.

"What could have happened?" Turlough asked, looking at the other man.

"From what Susan described," the Hatter said slowly, looking thoughtfully as everyone looked at her, "It would appear to be a transmit device, or at the very least, something very similar".

"Yes, but they must have got it from the Master," Tegan said, standing up from where she had been kneeling beside the First Hatter. She cast a glance toward the older Time Lady, expecting to see her normal reaction; instead she found her looking more curies than anything. It was hard to believe that these two women were the same person.

"I do hope they're all right," Susan sighed, looking very concerned as she looked at the First Hatter. She had no idea what she would do if anything happened to her, she was more like a Grandmother to her then her real Grandmother was, she had always been there for her when she was growing up, even if it meant getting behind in her work for the High Council, she would do it without hesitation.

"Well, with our young friends gone," the First Doctor looked at the group, gesturing to himself and the First Hatter, "We shall have to go to the Dark Tower".

Tegan nodded determinedly, "I'll come with you two".

"Oh," the First Doctor walked towards her, eyeing her with a small frown, "Oh, well, if you must".

"Doctor," the First Hatter frowned, standing and joining them, "Don't be rude, she is merely trying to help us," she turned to the human women and smiled, "Something that I would be most grateful for. What is the old saying? The more, the merrier".

"Very well," the First Doctor nodded, looking back at Tegan, "I apologies. Thank you, my dear".

The First Hatter smiled, linking her arm through the Doctor's, "Shall we go, then?" she asked them, beginning to gain more confidants. If her future self could do this every day, then so could she.

…..….…_**The Conference room, Gallifrey**_…..

The council members and the Doctor all shielded their eyes as the bright golden glow from the regeneration energy continued until it slowly disappeared, ravelling the Fourth, well, Fifth Hatter, the Doctor mentally corrected himself as he stepped closer to her, taking in her new appearance.

Long wavy brown hair pooled itself around her head, so different from her past selves straight blonde hair, but somehow, the Fifth Doctor could tell already that she wouldn't mind. Pale skin, just like her past four regenerations. She was shorter than before, standing around about 5'7.

Her eyes flicked open and the Doctor caught sight of forest green before she leapt off the table, grinning madly as she looked around, two dimples that hadn't been there before now forming in her cheeks.

"Hello, ooh, that's new!" the Fifth Doctor blinked as he watched her. He really hadn't expected her to be up and about this soon, "New body, new voice, new…everything," she sent a cheeky wink at the Doctor, making him blush, "So is that! Goodness, I have no idea where that came from".

She tuned and laughed as she spotted Lord Borusa, Castellan, and Flavia, all watching her with stern, unamused looks, "Oh, I do apologies for my behaviour, Lords and Ladies," the Fifth Hatter continued grinning, saying to them with a slight mocking tone in her voice, "But you know how it is, regeneration, that is. I would never expect you three to know much of anything else, really".

"Dame Hatter," Borusa said loudly, looking less than pleased, the Fifth Doctor's eyes widened and he tried to grab the Fifth Hatter's arm, but she dodged him.

"Dearie me, that was rude," the Fifth Hatter shook her head, not taking any notice to Borusa, "In fact it was so rude, that I'm going to hang my head in shame".

She flashed them a bright smile before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed, or would have had the Doctor not caught her before she hit the floor, out cold. The Fifth Doctor gently picked her up again and laid her back on the table top, checking her over to make sure she was alright as Borusa pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Flavia, please call for someone to take the Hatter to a privet room for her recovering," Borusa nodded to the other Time Lady, "She is to be given the best of care so she may recover as soon as possible. Also, please inform her family of what has occurred. I am quite sure they will want to know".

Flavia nodded and left the room, she returned a moment later with two guards carrying a stretching. They made their way over to the table, carefully transferring the Fifth Hatter onto the stretching before leaving once more with a single nod to Borusa, closing the doors behind them.

"Where are they taking her?" the Fifth Doctor asked, frowning as he looked at the doors. He didn't like the idea of the Hatter not being by his side, especially after she had just regenerated, after all, he was a doctor, as well as her best friend. Who better to take care of her, then?

"She will be taken to a privet room to recover," Borusa told him simply, "You may see her later, if you wish".

The Fifth Doctor nodded, he still wasn't pleased by the idea but decided that it was best not to argue, "It seems we've done the Master an injustice," he commented, fishing the teleport device out of his pocket and holding it up.

"If he survived, I'm sure he will learn to live with the misjudgement," Borusa said, not seeming to care in the slightest if he did die.

"Well, this change's things," the Fifth Doctor nodded, moving closer as he looked at them, raising his eyebrows. He wanted answer and after what just happened to the Hatter, he wanted them more than ever, "If the Master isn't responsible, then who is misusing the Death Zone?"

"We were hoping you and the Hatter could tell us," Castellan replied, glaring at him, unable to help himself from adding, slightly louder this time as the Fifth Doctor turned to him, "You have been there".

"Who has control of the Time Scoop?" the Doctor asked, not looking away from Castellan as they held gazes. It wasn't hard to forget that only a short while ago, the Castellan was more than willing to execute not just him, but the Hatter as well for a crime that neither of them committed.

"No one," Borusa shook his head, everyone turned to look at him, "Its use is prohibited".

"But the machinery still exists," the Fifth Doctor raised his eyebrows, already guessing the answer as things began to fall into place.

Borusa frowned, looking at him sharply, "Doctor, you seem to be implying that the Time Scoop was used to bring you".

"Yes, I am rather".

"Then you accuse a Time Lord," Flavia said in surprise, looking alarmed as she glanced at Borusa. The very idea was near scandalise.

"I think it would be quite an important one, as well," the Fifth Doctor nodded, taking no notice of the Time Ladies surprise as he looked at each one of them in turn before settling back on the Castellan. If only he could talk to the Hatter and hear what she thought of his theories, it was a strange feeling not being able to do so.

"You have evidence, of course," Borusa looked at him, not seeming to be overly concerned.

"No," the Fifth Doctor shook his head, making his way around the table toward Borusa as he continued speaking, "No, not yet".

"Then upon what do you base this outrageous accusation?"Borusa questioned, standing from his position at the end of the table and meeting the Doctor in the middle, eyeing him.

"Cybermen," he told him, prepared for the question, "Whoever brought me, the Hatters, and my other selves here also brought them. Now, you know our legends well enough. Even in our most corrupt period our ancestors never allowed the Cybermen to play the game. Like the Daleks, they play to well," he frowned as he finished, thinking of his Hatter and the reason why she wasn't standing by his side right now.

Castellan smiled smugly, "Hardly proof of a traitor," he moved forward and leaned forwards, resting his hands on the table top as he watched the Fifth Doctor.

"Then there's this," the Fifth Doctor continued, ignoring the Castellan as he held up the golden teleport device for them to see, "You know, the Death Zone is a large place, and yet the Cybermen found us very quickly," adding with a slightly angry edge to his voice, "Almost as if they were supposed to."

"They are highly skilled in such things," Borusa tried to wave him off.

"Especially when helped," he said as Borusa walked away from him,"This is the one thing the Master would be sure to keep on him at all times. The recall device," he looked down at the golden device and began to undo the top, "And within," he opened the top, revealing a small, red flashing light inside, "A homing beacon".

Castellan quickly lost his smug smile as the Fifth Doctor chucked the device at him for him to see for him himself.

"Which you gave him Castellan," Borusa said slowly, turning to him.

Castellan's head snapped to Borusa before looking back to the Doctor, almost laughing at the idea, "It's a lie!" he glared at him, the Fifth Doctor merely looking back at him, "The Doctor wants revenge. No doubt the Hatter is involved as well".

Borusa gave Castellan a cold look, stepping forward and pressing a button on the intercom as the Doctor glared back at Castellan, "Sit down," Borusa ordered Castellan.

"I will not submit to such wild accusations," Castellan augured angrily.

"Commander!" Borusa shouted, walking over to the doors just as they opened and the head guard entered.

"Lord President?" the man turned to Borusa.

"Institute an immediate and rigorous search of the Castellan's office and living quarters," Borusa commanded, the guard nodded and left, leaving them to await his return.

…..….….._**The Death Zone**_…

"I do not believe your lies," the Cyber Leader said, pointing at the Master as he tried to explain to the patrol what was happening.

"What I have said is the truth," the Master sighed, trying to make a Cyberman understand something was hard enough at the best of times, let alone an entire patrol of them, "We've all been sent here for the same reason".

"To fight?" one of the Cybermen asked, the Master forced himself not to roll his eyes.

"To destroy each other for the amusement of the Time Lords," he corrected, "But you don't have to play their game. You can defeat them, gain your revenge, but only with my help".

"Explain," the Leader demanded.

The Master almost smiled, knowing that he had gained there interest, or as much interest as a creature like the Cybermen could have, "Close by there's a Tower, the fortress of your enemies the Time Lords. It's well defended, but I can help you break in".

"And, what do you ask in return?"

"My life," he said at once, "My freedom. A chance to share in your revenge. To destroy the Time Lords".

The Leader stepped closer to him, almost seeming to be considering him for a moment before passing him, "Guard him," it ordered, one of the Cybermen did as it was told while another followed after its leader, stopping a short distance away, appearing to be discussing something out of earshot of the Master.

A few moments past before both the Cybermen returned to the Master, "You will guide us to this Tower," the Leader ordered him, the Master bowled his head to them before turning and leading them in the direction of the Dark Tower.

….…_**The Fifth Doctor's TARDIS**_…

"They're moving so slowly," Susan sighed as she and Turlough stood by the console, looking at the one blinking dots on the monitor that showed the position of the First Doctor as he and the First Hatter, along with Tegan, made their way toward the Dark Tower.

"Don't worry," Turlough told her, seeing her concerned frown, "Tegan will look after them".

Susan heavied another sigh, "If only we could make contact with the other Doctors and Hatters".

Suddenly, something thumped on the side of the TARDIS, causing Turlough and Susan to jump and look toward the doors, "What's that?" Susan asked fearfully.

Turlough glanced at the Time Lady before hurrying around the other side of the TARDIS console, flicking a switch and turning on the main scanner. The picture flicked to life to show two metal men standing outside, in the process of unravelling a cable.

"Oh, no," Turlough groaned.

"Cybermen," Susan said, recognising them at once as she watched the screen, looking grim. If the Cybermn and Daleks were here, then what else?

…_**The Dark Towers underground entrance**_….

The Second Doctor led the way through the dark tunnels that were meant to lead the way up into the Dark Tower, using the light from the burning torch to guide them. The Second Hatter following after him, gripping tightly to the Doctor's hand so she wouldn't accidently lose him. Her eye sight in this body really was terrible, even with glasses. The Brig bringing up the rear, puffing as he tried to keep up.

"Come along, Brigadier," the Second Doctor called over his shoulder to him, pausing for a moment to let him catch up, "Come along. This way".

"Damn it, Doctor," the other man huffed breathlessly, "I'm just not built for this kind of thing any more".

"You never were," the Doctor replied, wincing as he felt the Hatter tighten her grip on his hand, glancing behind him to see her glaring at him, "What? It's true".

"Ignore him, Alistair," the Second Hatter told him, shooting the Doctor another look, "He's just jealous about your height," the Doctor's mouth dropped and he started spluttering, but she continued talking over him, "But never mind that, we're getting along quite nicely, I rather think".

"Yeah," the Brig stopped chuckling at the Time Lord's face as they started making their way through the tunnel.

"We should be at the Tower very soon," the Second Doctor remarked after a moment, "The tunnel's rising all the time".

"Is that supposed to cheer me up?"

"Boys," the Second Hatter sighed, opening her mouth to say more when she was cut off by a loud, animal like roar from nearby, making them jump and look around. The Doctor pulled the Hatter close to him, both narrowing their eyes to try and see.

"What was that?" the Brig asked quietly, almost whispering as he looked at the Time Lords for answers.

"Well, it sounded very much like something large," the Second Hatter said slowly, sounding slightly fearful, "Something very fierce, and more than likely very hungry".

The Second Doctor's eyes meet her hers and he nodded, "Come on," he said, grabbing her hand tightly and pulling her along the tunnel, the Brigadier hot on their heels.

…..…..…_**The Death Zone, a slate quarry**_….

The Third Doctor, the Third Hatter, and Sarah Jane made their way over large rocks, being careful to keep an eye out should the Cybermen make another appearance as they came to a stop, looking up at a slate cliff, "It's a dead end," Sarah sighed, staring up at the cliff.

"No, it's not," the Third Doctor shook his head, pointing up to the ledge, "Look".

"I can't go along there," Sarah gasped, looking horrified by the idea, "I get vertigo".

"Not to worry, Sarah," the Third Hatter patted her arm kindly, she knew how it felt to have a fear of heights, her Second self was terrified by them, no doubt it was because of her near death experiences while rock climbing with the Doctor when they were children. Not that she would ever tell him that, she knew he felt guilty enough about that day as it was, "We will help you. Besides, we can't exactly go back".

"Why not?" she asked quickly, looking behind her, "You've shaken the Cybermen off".

"They don't get tired, that's way not," the Third Doctor replied, still staring up at the cliff ledge as he thought up a plan. What they really needed was some strong rope, were to get that from was another issue, "And they never give up".

"Oh, no, no, no," Sarah nodded, shivering as she thought back to her past adventures that involved the Cybermen, "I remember," she took a couple of breaths before stalking forward, "Okay, well, let's go then. And if I don't fall off that path, I'll probably die of fright".

A loud zing like sound sounded and the two Time Lords quickly ran after her, "Wait!" they both called.

"What?" Sarah frowned at them, stopping as they court up with her, "What is it?"

"Look," the Third Hatter said quietly, pointing to the entrance of a cave just up ahead of them were a silver android had just appeared seemingly out of no were, crouching as it surveyed the area, "It's a Raston Warrior robot," she explained, "The most perfect killing machine ever devised. Even better than a Dalek".

"It isn't armed," Sarah shook her head, not seeing what was so special about the robot. The android turned and spotted them, suddenly releasing a javelin like weapon from its arm and hitting right in-between the Third Doctor and Sarah.

"Quick, over there," the Doctor grabbed both girls' arms and pulled them over to a large rock, peeking around the side as they watched the robot, "Their armaments are built in, and sensors detect movement. Any movement".

"Anything else I shouldn't know?" Sarah questioned them, looking fearful as she stared wide eyed at the cave entrance. She really hadn't been expecting that.

"Yes," the Third Hatter nodding, glancing sideways at her, "They movie like lightening".

As if on cue, the robot jumped in the air, throwing its arms up before it vanished. Not taking their eyes away from the spot, the Third Doctor, Hatter, and Sarah slowly stood when the robot reappeared close by, causing Sarah to gasp before disappearing once more, and reappearing back in the cave entrance.

"What's it doing?" Sarah breathed, shacking all over.

"Playing with us," the Third Doctor answered as the robot disappeared again, "Right," he grabbed the Hatter's and Sarah's hands, "Come on".

They quickly ran over to another large rock, putting their backs against it as they tried to hide when the robot reappeared, not ten steps away from them with its back to them.

"Freeze, Sarah Jane," the Third Doctor and Hatter warned her quietly, both keeping as still as possible, "If you move, we're dead".

…..….…..….._**The Fifth Doctor's TARDIS**_….

The entire console room swayed and jolted as the Cybermen, still outside, continued to work on whatever it was they were trying to do.

"If only we could get away from here!" Turlough exclaimed, frustrated as he walked around to the other side of the console when he suddenly remembered just who Susan was, or more what she was, "Can you operate the controls?" he asked her.

"Yes, but we're still trapped by the force field from the Tower," the young Time Lady almost cried.

Turlough sighed, putting his head in his hands before going back to trying to get the controls to work, not holding out to much hope. If a Time Lady couldn't get it to work, then he doubted he could.

….…..…._**The Death Zone, moorland**_…..

The First Hatter and Doctor followed after Tegan as she led them toward the Dark Tower, both Time Lords lagging behind her.

"Come on, Doc, Hat," Tegan paused and looked back at them, waiting for them to catch up, "You can make it".

"'Hat?'" the First Hatter questioned, "I don't believe I have ever been called that before," she thought about and frowned, "And I don't like it, either. Please, my dear, I would much rather you call me by my proper title".

"Yes, and kindly refrain from addressing me as 'Doc,'" the First Doctor nodded, giving the young human women a annoyed look as he linked his arm with the Hatter's and strolled past her, "And of course we can make it, we are Time Lords".

Tegan shook her head as she hurried after them. She had expected the Hatter to react that way about being called simply Hat, she always used to tell her companion, Michael off for doing it, but she was starting to miss her Doctor and Hatter. The quicker they sorted this all out the better.

….…..…._**Conference room, Gallifrey**_…..

"As you can see, Lord President," the Commander of the guards said, placing a wooden casket on top of the table while the others watched, "The casket bears the Seal of Rassilon".

"Where was this found?" Borusa asked him, looking at the chest and examining it.

The Fifth Doctor stood back and eyed the chest from afar; he wished his Hatter was with him, she would have been fascinated by the chest. It felt like hours had passed since she had been taken away to recover and something told him that it would a while yet before he would be able to see her, to be able to get to know the new her.

"In the Castellan's room," the guard informed them.

Borusa nodded and carefully opened the chest, revealing black coloured scrolls, all stacked neatly inside on top of each other with a small clasp holding them together.

Flavia's eyes winded and she stepped forward too look closer, "Black Scrolls of Rassilon!" she gasped, staring at them with a cross between wonder, and almost fear.

"Interesting," the Fifth Doctor commented, moving to pick one up, "I thought they were out of print".

"Don't touch, Doctor," Borusa quickly warned him, "This is forbidden knowledge from the Dark Tower," inside the chest began to smoke before crackling into flames, Borusa carefully closed it and turned to look at Castellan, "You were taking no chances".

"I am innocent," Castellan tried, standing from his chair and leaning forward on the table with his hands, looking straight at Borusa, "I have never seen that casket before".

Borusa looked to the guard, "Take him to Security and discover the truth," he ordered, the guards nodded and stepped forward, grabbing Castellan's arms but he shrugged them off, "Commander, you are authorised to use the mind probe".

"What?" Castellan shouted, his eyes widening in horror as the Fifth Doctor's head snapped up, looking very alarmed, "No, not the mind probe!"

"Let me speak to him," the Fifth Doctor pleaded as Castellan was dragged from the room, looking at Borusa. He may not have had the best record with the Castellan, but the mind probe was extremely painful and could cause serious damage, no one should have to be put through something like that.

"No, Doctor," Boursa shook his head, holding out his hand to stop him from following, "The mind probe will give us all the answer we require".

Suddenly, there was a loud scream of pain from behind the doors leading outside the office and the sound of a guard's energy weapon being used, before the sound of a body hitting the floor. The Fifth Doctor's eyes winded and he opened the doors to find the Castellan lying dead on the steps with a gun beside him, the guards standing over him with their weapons still drawn.

The Doctor stared down at his body before walking over to one of the guards, "Was that really necessary?" he asked, sounding calmer then he felt.

"Well, as you can see, he was armed and trying to escape," the guard replied, sounding far to calm for a person who had just been 'attacked' by a fellow Time Lord.

The Fifth Doctor stared at him, shaking his head and turning to Borusa who had followed him out, looking at the Castellan's body with no emotion on his face, "It seems you have been saved the embarrassment of a trial," the Doctor frowned.

"And you have found your traitor, Doctor," Borusa said, "Let us hope it will simplify the task of your other selves. And the Hatters".

"Yes," he nodded, "Yes, I should be getting back to them," he hurried past him and back inside the conference room and over to the teleport controls. He didn't want to leave his Hatter behind, not only because she would be furies with him but because he always felt safer with her by his side, but he also knew that he needed to get back and help. He couldn't wait any longer.

"Doctor, I admire your courage," Bouras told him, following after him, "But I cannot allow you to return. It will take some time to establish the Castellan's role in this affair. I need your help and advice, not to mention the Hatter is still recovering, do you really wish to leave her behind?"

The Doctor frowned at him, he didn't like the way he had talked about the Hatter, almost making it sound like a warning, but knowing better then to call him out on it, "I can't abandon them," he argued, "The Hatter will understand".

"Oh, I'm sure you other selves will be able to cope".

"Are they all in the Death Zone? Including the Hatters?"

"Yes, all but two," Borusa nodded, "And they are trapped in the Vortex. Doctor, I'm sorry, but I must insist that you remain," the Fifth Doctor sighed and put his arms behind his back as Borusa turned to the Time Lady, "Chancellor Flavia, would you escort the Doctor to a place of rest? I'm sure he must be exhausted".

"No, I want to see the Hatter first," the Doctor quickly said, "If I must remain here then I would like to see her".

Borusa sighed, "Very well," he nodded to Flavia, "Please escort the Doctor to the Hatter's place of rest, do make sure they have everything they may require".

"Lord President," the Time Lady nodded respectively, walking through the doors. The Fifth Doctor eyed Borusa for a moment, usually he would have not allowed it unless there was a good reason, something wasn't right.

But never the less, the Doctor quickly followed after Flavia through the doors, glancing over his shoulder, frowning as he noticed the troubled look on Borusa's face before the doors were close.

…_**The Dark Towers underground entrance**_….

The Second Doctor, the Hatter, and the Brigadier continued on their way through the dark tunnels, every now and then they would hear another roar, which would only cause them to speed up.

"Whatever that creature is," the Brig frowned, slightly breathless from all the running as they paused by an underground stream, "It's got out scent. It's hunting us!"

They quickly hurried on down the tunnel as the roars began to grow louder than before, sounding closer as the Second Doctor found a gap large enough for them to fit through, "Oh!" he grabbed the Hatter's hand and began to pull her with him as he squizzed himself through the gap, "In here. Oh, oh!"

"Come along, Alistair!" the Second Hatter called, grabbing his hand and helping him through the small gap as they hurried to the very back, attempting to flatten themselves against the rock just as a large, clawed hand began trying to reach them, only to find it was too big and for it to be in vain.

"Doctor, Hatter!" the Brig shouted, looking alarmed as he eyed the clawed hand still trying to reach at them, "Look!"

The Second Doctor leapt forward and began trying to draw the creature back with the burning torch before falling back against the rock when it didn't seem to work.

"Trapped," the Brig groaned.

"Never say trapped, my dear, Alistair," the Second Hatter told him, giving him a small smile despite how true his words were. She glanced at the Second Doctor beside her, "Got any bright ideas? Anything in your pockets?"

He looked at her before his eyes brightened and he grinned, "Perhaps," he turned to the Brig and held out the torch, "Hold this," the Brig took it and frowned as the Doctor began going through his pockets, muttering, "Must be something".

"Hurry up, Doctor," the Brig called, looking alarmed as the Second Doctor pulled out a catapult and an apple, dropping them both to the ground before going back to his pockets, "It's trying to dig us out!"

"Deep breaths, Alistair," the Second Hatter patted his arm as the Doctor pulled out a small bag of jelly babies and passed them to her. She shrugged and fished one out, popping it in her mouth before offering one to the Brig.

"Do you really think this is the right time to be snacking on lollies, Hatter?" he asked her tiredly, still staring at the creature.

"These are not just lollies," she told him seriously, "They're jelly babies, Alistair. Respect the jelly babies and no one gets hurt".

"You never change," the Brig said fondly, sounding as if he was on the verge of chuckling.

"Ah!" the Second Doctor smiled as he pulled out a small firework, the Hatter gave him a disproving look. What type of person would keep a firework in their pocket when anything could happen? Sometimes she really wondered how he didn't end up getting himself killed.

The Doctor untwisted the top and held it up to the torch, waiting for it to catch alight. It quickly caught and he held it out toward the creature, just before it went off and showered it with sparks, making it retreat. The Doctor quickly threw the firecracker out and covered his ears, the Second Hatter doing the same.

"What was that?" the Brig asked them.

"Pardon?" both Time Lords asked, not uncovering their ears.

"What was that?" he repeated, shouting this time.

"It's a Galactic Glitter…" the Second Doctor managed to say just before there was a loud bang and a flash of light from outside, the fire cracking finally exploding, "It's a Yeti!" both Time Lords gasped at the same time, finely getting a proper look at the creature.

"Where did it come from?" the Brig asked quietly.

"It was more than likely left over from the Games," the Second Hatter answered, frowning sadly, "No wonder it was hungry, poor thing".

"It just tried to claw us to death," the Brig stared at her as if she had gone completely mad.

"Like I said, it must have been starving," the Time Lady replied, still frowning, "It can't help being hungry, if we must blame anyone then we should blame the Time Lords of old," she said, sounding slightly angry, "What gave them any right to think they could take these creatures for their own enjoyment and just leave them here when they had finished? Sometimes being a Time Lady sickens me".

The Doctor open his mouth to say something when the Yeti suddenly gave a loud roar and began trying to get at them again, even more furies then before.

"You maddened it!" the Brig shouted as the Yeti clawed at the rocks, coursing them to collapse over the tunnel entrance, blocking them in as they coughed on the dust.

"Wonderful," the Second Hatter groaned, taking her glasses off and cleaning them on her dress, or trying to as it was covered in dust to.

"Well, at least it can't get at us," the Second Doctor said optimistically.

"Yes, and now we're trapped," the Brig rolled his eyes, shaking his head at how calm they both appeared as he eyed the collapsed tunnel, "Buried alive".

"Yes, I'm afraid we are," the Doctor agreed, sighing slightly.

"Perhaps not," the Second Hatter said slowly, looking at the torch as the flames flicked, almost like a wind was blowing it. Both men blinked at her and followed her gaze as she looked from the torch to a large boulder with just enough room to get past, something they hadn't noticed before, "I think the correct phrase would be where there's a wind, there's a way".

She flashed a bright smile at both men and carefully took the torch from the Brig, making sure she wouldn't accidently set herself on fire as she turned and squizzed her way through the tiny gap, wondering how they hadn't noticed it before, or though, they had just been focusing on trying to get away from a starved Yeti. The Second Doctor and the Brig exchanged looks before following after her, finding them in a small tunnel like cave with a small stone door frame set into the rock face.

"Well, I think we've arrived," the Doctor commented, smiling as he looked from the Brig before meeting the Hatter's eyes, feeling a sudden urge to hug her at how brilliant she was.

"Shall we, gentlemen?" she asked, pulling her eyes away from the Doctor who seemed to be staring at her oddly, looking at the Brig who nodded. She moved forward and placed her hand on the door, but before she could apply any pressure to open it, it opened by itself, "Well," she blinked, looking slightly fearful as she looked at her friends, "That was perhaps just a little bit creepy".

"I don't like this at all," the Second Doctor frowned, taking the Time Ladies hand, "Someone or something wants us to go inside," he paused a moment, looking at the Brig who had flatten himself against the side of the wall, looking as fearful as the Hatter felt, "After you, Brigadier".

"No," he quickly shook his head, turning to the Time Lady, "No, after you, Hatter".

"Um, I think I'll let chivalry go out the window and allow the Doctor to go first," she coughed, nervously shooting the door a look, "Just this once," she added at the amused and knowing look from the Doctor.

If this had been any other time or place then she would have been perfectly fine with going first, but this was the Death Zone, this was the Dark Tower. All Time Lords grew up with the legends of Rassilon and of the stories from old about the Death Zone, but she never expected to actually find herself here, possibly moments away from being in Rassilon tomb. It was terrifying and amazing all at the same time.

"Very well," the Second Doctor nodded, unable to stop himself from adding cheekily, "Just this once," before taking the torch and duking down low enough to get through the door.

The Second Hatter narrowed her eyes at him, shooting him a look as she ducked down and followed after him. The Brig cast a glanced back the way they had come, sighing to himself as he cautiously ducked and followed after the Time Lords, deeply regretting the two of them showing up again, but at the same time, loving every minute of it.

_**And now we've got the Fifth Hatter, the next chapter will have an original moment in it, featuring someone quite important to the Hatter, but I won't be saying who, just yet. I hope you liked it, please review :)**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**The Five Doctor's and Hatter's, part 5.**_

_**The Fifth Doctor's TARDIS.**_

"At least that terrible hammering's stopped," Susan commented, trying to be more optimistic then she felt as she looked around the console room, listening closely to any sound.

"Hmm," Turlough nodded, turning away from the console and leaning against it, "That's what's worrying me".

Susan glanced at him when her eyes caught something, "Look!" she called, grabbing his arm, making him turn to look at the scanner to see four Cybermen outside the TARIDS, two of them uncoiling some wire while two others carried a large device before placing it on the ground, almost seeming to be trying to be gently as they did, "What's that they're carrying?" she asked, glancing at Turlough.

"I don't know," he shook his head, looking at Susan, looking slightly nervous, "But I would think their intention is to try and break in".

Susan met his eyes, swallowing hard, the last thing they needed right now was for that to happen.

…..….…._**The Death Zone, a slate quarry**_….

"Doctor, Hatter, I don't think I can take much more of this," Sarah breathed, her eyes almost watering from trying not to move, still flattening herself against the rock face as she watched the robot from the corner of her eye as it stood in front of the cave.

The Hatter titled her head just slightly so she could see Sarah's face, giving her a comforting look, "Deep breaths, Sarah Jane," she opened her mouth to say more when the sound of slate being walked on sounded, making her and the Doctor look over to the side to see a Cyberman walking into view, "But then again…"

"Hang on, Sarah Jane," the Third Doctor encouraged her, "Hang on. I think we've got one hope".

They watched as the Cyberman walked closer to them just as the Raston robot turned and spotted it. Suddenly, a lance like weapon shot straight out of the robots arm, hitting the Cyberman in its chest unit, before hitting its head, killing it as Sarah, the Third Doctor, and Hatter peeked around the side of the rock, just as two more Cybermen appeared, they to being killed before they could even raise their weapons. A moment later, five more Cybermen arrived, including the Cyber Leader.

The Raston robot jumped in the air, reappearing a moment later, before jumping once more, leaving the Cybermen to look around, confused. The robot reappeared behind them and quickly began picking each Cyberman off one by one, leaving only there smoking remains behind.

The Doctor grabbed the Hatter's hand, shouting, "Now!" before pulling the Time Lady with him as he ran toward the entrance to the cave, Sarah running after them. They quickly reached the cave and ran inside, looking around as the Doctor spotted a couple of javelins and some thick wire hooked to the rock walls, "Look what we've got, Sarah Jane, Hatter," both girls followed his line of sight as he began grabbing the robots left over equipment, "The Robots extra arrows".

"I suppose that it's better than nothing," the Third Hatter commented and started helping him gather the wire, "At least we shall have something to use should we need to fight, or though, I do hope that will not be necessary".

"So do I," the Third Doctor nodded, giving her a small smile before reaching and grabbing a couple of arrows, "Wait a minute, these might come in handy," he looked over what they had, giving a single nod, "Come on".

They hurried out of the cave, by the back way so not to be caught and began making their way up a large mountain before pausing as they reached the top. Sarah blinked as she looked around, walking closer to the edge of the cliff, looking across to find herself looking at the Dark Tower while the Time Lords knelt on the ground behind her, fiddling with the wire.

"Now what do we do, fly?" she asked them, sarcastically.

The Third Doctor and Hatter exchanged amused looks, "What a splendid idea," they both smiled at her before going back to fiddling with the wire, using a small pocket knife that the Doctor had to cut the wire away from each other, and began uncoiling it.

….._**Citadel**_…..…..….

The Fifth Doctor followed after Flavia as she led him through a couple of corridors before coming to a stop outside a pair of white doors with a plaque on the front, written in Gafflreyan 'recovering room,' and underlined underneath, 'do not disturb without permission'.

"I shall wait outside should you need anything, Doctor," Flavia told him, giving him a nod as he moved toward the door.

"You don't have to," he shook his head.

"Perhaps not, but I will," the Time Lady replied, before adding, "But be forewarned, the Hatter's mother arrived a short time ago".

The Fifth Doctor cast a weary look toward the door, he had really wanted to just have some alone time with the Hatter, even if she was still asleep. The last thing he had been wanting was to have a run in with her mother when she would, no doubt, be out for his blood for not protecting her youngest daughter more, despite it being an accident. Not to mention he was dreading seeing the Hatter get stirred up so soon, she always did get stressed when it came to her parents.

"Right…" he nodded slowly, taking a deep breath before opening the door and stepping inside. On first look of the room, it was a small but tidy space with a bedside table with a lamp , plain white walls, and tailed flooring. Sitting in the middle of the room sat a signal bed were the Fifth Hatter was sitting up, leaning against a couple of pillows, looking less than pleased as she stared at the wall directly in front of her, her arms crossed across her chest. Beside the bed were two chairs, one already occupied by a woman, appearing to be in her late forties with red hair pulled back in a tight bun, pale skin, and looking extremely stern as she eyed the younger Time Lady.

Three guesses who she was.

"…when are you going to stop behaving like a child, Ariana, and start acting like your age?" the women was saying, sounding as if she was talking to a child, "For Rassilon's sake! How old are you? You should be settled down, just because one marriage didn't work does not mean…"

"No, Mother!" the Hatter said loudly, holding up her hand, not looking away from the wall, "I am not going to allow you to speak to me as if I was a child. Oh, and please remember that my name is not Ariana, it's the Hatter. You may not agree with _my_ title but it is _my_ title, and therefore I shall be called by it".

"How dare you speak to me like that," the older Time Lady gasped, "I never had any problems with your siblings, but you…"

"Oh yes, compare me to my brother and sister," she rolled her eyes, "Because it's not like we're different people with completely different personalities, is it now? Mother, please, my head is still throbbing so can you please hold off on the lecture until…oh, I don't know, until I'm not sitting in bed!"

The other women went open her mouth when she suddenly spotted the Fifth Doctor still standing by the door, looking in-between both Time Ladies. Her cheeks flared bright red and her eyes became as cold as ice, something that she had in common with her daughter when she was angry. She jumped to her feet and stormed over to him, making him shrink back, "You!" she shouted, stabbing a finger into his chest, making him flinch, "How dare you show your face anywhere near my daughter and I!"

"Mother, stop it," the Hatter groaned, quickly pulling her eyes away from the wall to look at them, "It's not his fault, he was the one who brought me back here. You should be thanking him!" she started trying to climb out of bed but her mother was there in a flash.

"You heard what the doctor told you, sweetie," the older women told her, gently batting her daughter's hands away so she could smooth the blanket back over her legs, fussing.

"Mother, _I_ am a doctor," the Fifth Hatter rolled her eyes, shooting a pleading look at the Doctor over her mother's shoulder, "And we just so happen to have _the_ Doctor with us right now".

Her mother's stern face flushed red again as she straightened stiffly, half turning toward the Fifth Doctor as her dark blue eyes narrowed, "Yes, something that I would very much like to change," she replied coldly.

"Lady Rosslyn, lovely to see you again," the Fifth Doctor gave her a small, slightly forced smile as he stepped forwards, reaching out his hand before he thought better off it and quickly clasped his hands behind his back. He coughed slightly as he met the Hatter's amused eyes briefly before quickly looking away.

Lady Rosslyn could be a lovely woman, as well as a quite intelligent one, but she did hold very set views when it came to Time Lords being the superior race. She was also fiercely protective of her children, another trait that her daughter shared with her, but were the Hatter understood that her children had their own lives and could do as they wished, her mother did not. Something that had brought both Time Ladies to blows more than once in the past.

Lady Rosslyn gave a quick, sharp nod in the Fifth Doctor's general direction, refusing to even glance at him as she kept her eyes on the wall, just as her daughter had been doing mere moments ago.

"Mother, please listen to me," the Fifth Hatter sighed, rubbing her forehead tiredly. This was the last thing that she needed to happen while she was still recovering from her regeneration, "I have been tolerant with you, I have tried to talk to you, but you simply refuse to hear or understand my views. The Doctor is my friend, my _best_ friend, and if I wish to have him by my side then I will but I won't allow you to continue to treat him as you do".

Lady Rosslyn frowned, "I don't understand…"

"Okay, I'll put this simply," she said, nodding, "If you can't at the very least behaviour yourself around the Doctor, then I will have to ask you to leave. I won't stand back and watch while you blame him for something that he had no control over, Mother, and if that means that you have to leave then so be it. I'm no longer a child who needs to be cuddled by you, or anyone else".

"I'm your mother," the older Time Lady gasped, staring at her daughter while the Doctor did the same, surprised by what he was witnessing.

"Well, perhaps you should have behaved more like one," the Fifth Hatter replied with an edge of coldness in her voice, "Perhaps if you had been a better parent then maybe I would be able to spend time around my own family without feeling like an outcast. All I ever wanted as a child was for you to give me just the slightest hint of attention or love that a parent is supposed to give their child, and all you did was force me to spend my early childhood with different tutors".

"It was for your own good," Lady Rosslyn defended, "Yours and Gallifrey, or have you forgotten that as the Gifted One it is your duty to help aid your planet to even further greatness?"

"No, Mother," she shook her head, "You can try to tell everyone that it was for my own good but we both know that all you have done for me was for your own good, not Gallifrey's, and certainly not mine. Now, the Doctor and I have important matters to attend to so you can either stay or go, your choice".

"Very well," Lady Rosslyn said after a moment, her face and voice blank of all emotions as she walked past the Doctor before pausing with her hand on the door handle, glancing back over her shoulder, "Before I forget, I have a message from your children".

The Fifth Doctor's head snapped around to look at the Hatter, seeing her face drain of colour as her eyes widened, "What…" she cleared her throat after a moment, a flicker of hope in her eyes, "What is the message?"

"They hope that you are well and asked me to pass on their love," Lady Rosslyn replied, stiffly before giving a small nod and stepping outside, closing the door behind her.

"Hatter…" the Fifth Doctor began, noticing the look of the Hatter's face but she cut him off.

"I'm fine, Doctor," she told him, leaving no room for argument as she gave him a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry you had to see all of that, it's just that my Mother tends to bring the worst out of me…"

"Don't worry about it," he shook his head, "I understand, besides, what's a little mother-daughter fighting between friends?"

"Well, at least you haven't lost your since of humour," the Hatter smiled at him before turning serious, "But there's something that's bothering you, sweetheart. Tell me everything".

….…...…**Citadel**….….…

Once the Doctor had finished explaining everything that had occurred since the Hatter had regenerated, she had managed to get a change of clothing, seeing as her last regenerations clothing were too big for her, what with the height difference between them. The floor length gown wasn't something that she was pleased to be wearing, not with everything that was going on around them, but she didn't have any other choice but to wear it seeing as the Time Lords were hardly going to have Earth clothing just hanging around.

The gown it's self was quite pretty, a dark red colour with gold thread embroidered in different circular patterns on the long sleeves and around the waist, and a pair of black boots with a small heel. Despite her complaints, she had also been forced to style her new, wavy brown hair into a half up, half down style, and rather than a lovely hat that she was dying to wear, she was being forced to wear one of her old diamond and pearl tiara that she use to wear before leaving Gallifrey, something that had amazed her to see that her mother had kept it after so many years.

After getting over the shock, the Fifth Hatter left and stepped outside, joining the Fifth Doctor and Flavia who were waiting outside, and they set off down the corridor.

"You look so worried, Doctor, Hatter," Flavia commented as she noticed how concerned they appeared, both deep in thought over everything they had learnt thus far, "Your friends and your other selves will be safe, I am sure".

"At the moment we're more concerned for the High Council," the Fifth Doctor told her, exchanging looks with the Fifth Hatter as they climbed a couple of steps, "For Gallifrey".

"The traitor has been found," the older Time Lady shook her head, not seeing why they were so worried.

"Oh, but how can we be so certain?" the Hatter stopped walking and turned to her, thinking over everything the Doctor had told her. She couldn't believe it, none of it made any sense to her, and neither did it make any sense to the Doctor, "The Doctor and I have known the Castellan for quite some time, I believe we even attended the Academy together…"

The Fifth Doctor nodded, "Yes, he was limited, a little narrow minded, but always fiercely loyal to his oath of office," he continued after the Fifth Hatter, "Any mention of the Dark days filled him with horror. Now, you saw his reaction to the Black Scrolls. It wasn't that of a man discovered, but of sheer disbelief," he shook his head, glancing at the Hatter who nodded along with him, "No, we're convinced the traitor is still at large".

"The only probably is that we have no evidence," the Fifth Hatter sighed, "And without evidence, there's no way of proving our theory".

Flavia nodded slowly, thinking it over carefully, "I will speak to the Commander who killed the Castellan," she said after a moment, "There may be much to be learned from him".

"Thank you," the Doctor and the Hatter said gratefully, "And we must go speak to the Lord President".

The Fifth Doctor grabbed the Hatter's hand and ran passed the older Time Lady, quickly hurrying back toward the conference room.

…._**The Death Zone, on a mountain top across from the Dark Tower**_…...

Sarah Jane bit her lower lip nervously as she stared down the side of the mountain, watching the patrol of Cybermen from earlier as they climbed there way closer to them, but luckily it appeared that they hadn't seen her, or the Time Lords yet, "Doctor, Hatter," she called to them, panic beginning to take control, "Cybermen!"

"Calm down, Sarah," the Third Hatter told her calmly, glancing at up at her from where she and the Doctor were still working on tying the long cable that they had stolen from the Raston robot around a large stone, "Panicking will do us no use, now will it? Try and see if you can hold them off, this shouldn't take too much longer".

"Yeah, right," Sarah nodded, taking a couple of deep breaths as she looked around her, quickly spotting a rock. She hurried over to it and picked it up before throwing it down the slope, aiming for the Cybermen, only it missed and ended up falling a good distance away from hitting any of the Cybermen, "Doctor, Hatter?" she said, feeling anxious again, "Missed".

"Right, that should do it," the Third Doctor smiled as he finished tightening the cable around the rock and cratered a large lasso at the end, along with three other smaller, separate loops that he had made from off cuts of the cable, perfect for using as a way to slide across the cable while suspended through the air. Now, all he had to do was convince Sarah Jane to go along with their plan.

"You're crazy," the young human woman shook her head as she stared at the Time Lords, and back to the cable, catching on to what they were doing, "That'll never work".

"A little faith, if you please," the Time Lady said as she checked the cable once more.

"Can you think of a better suggestion?" the Third Doctor asked, Sarah sighed and shook her head, realising that there wasn't much point in trying to argue with either Time Lord when they had made up their minds. She had learnt that from traveling with the Fourth and Third Hatter, "No?" the Doctor continued, "All right then, stand well back".

Both woman quickly took a couple of steps back as they watched as the Doctor began spinning the end of the cable, the lasso in the air before throwing it across the distance of their mountain top and to one of the pinnacles on the Dark Tower. He smiled to himself again as he double checked that the cable was in place before glancing back at the girls.

….….…_**The Death Zone, on the mountain slope across from the Dark Tower**_….…..…

"Ever resourceful, Doctor, Hatter," the Master commented as he watched the Third Doctor and Hatter as they slid across the cable suspended from a rock on the mountain and one of the pinnacles of the Dark Tower, along with the human girl, Sara Jane something. Trust those two to come up with a way of getting across; they always did manage to work things out, especially when they worked together. Infuriating, that was what it was, simply infuriating.

…_**The Death Zone, the top of the Dark Tower**_…

The Third Doctor was the first to go across the cable, not wanting either Sarah or the Hatter to go across until he was certain that it was safe. Once he had made it to the other side, managing to climb onto the top of the Dark Tower, the Hatter followed and he quickly pulled her over the side of the Tower and into the safety of his arms.

"Are you quite alright, Hatter?" he asked as soon as he hugged her, not wanting to let her go for a second. He hadn't wanted for them to have to get across to the Dark Tower via the roof, knowing that it would mean that they would have to be suspended through the air, but they had been left without much choice in the matter. He had been terrified that something might go wrong and that the Hatter would accidently fall and it would all be his fault.

"I'm perfectly fine, Doctor," the Third Hatter replied, giving him a small smile as she pulled back from his arms, "But I dare say that we should be preparing to help Sarah Jane, she'll be here in a moment and will be reacquiring our help".

"Yes, of course," the Third Doctor nodded and quickly focused on what was going on around him, just as Sarah reached the Tower. He and the Hatter grabbed hold of the small piece of cable that Sarah had used as grip to allow her to slide across the cable length, "We've got you," he told her, leaning over the side of the Tower to look at her, "Now, find a foot hold. Find any foot hold".

"Yes, yes," Sarah nodded, doing as she was told as she held on tightly to the cable.

"Have you got one?" the Hatter asked her.

"Yes".

"Right," the Third Doctor nodded, "Now, let go of this hand," he put his hand over Sarah's right hand.

"I can't!"

"Never say that you can't, Sarah Jane," the Third Hatter told her firmly, while at the same time giving her a reassuring smile, "You can do this. Now, hold both loops in both hands. Both loops in one hand, it's alright, the Doctor has the other one".

Sarah took a deep breath, feeling terrified as she forced herself to let her right hand let go of the cable, and grab hold tightly to the Doctor's hand while the other remained clutching tight to both loops of the cable with the Hatter's hands covering hers just in case she should accordantly let go.

"Right, come on," the Third Doctor gently pulled Sarah so that she was on a better angle for the Time Lords to be able to pull her over the ledge, "That's it. Now, find another foot hold. We've got you. Put it on that ledge. Can you find that ledge?"

"Yes, yes," Sarah quickly nodded, gasping as she found the foot hold the Third Doctor was talking about and began pulling herself up onto it as the Time Lords kept a hold of her.

"Wonderful, Sarah," the Third Hatter told her, using all of her strength to help aid the Doctor as he began easing Sarah up, "All right, up you come. That's it. Up you come…"

Sarah suddenly looked down and screamed as she saw how high up they really were, losing her grip on the cable as she did, but luckily the Doctor and the Hatter still had a firm hold of her.

"Don't look down!" both Time Lords shouted.

"I'm not looking!" she cried, "I'm not looking!"

"Come on," the Third Doctor and the Hatter struggled as they pulled the human woman up, "Up. That's it".

"I did it!" Sarah gasped as the Time Lords managed to pull her over onto their side, safely on top of the Tower, "I did it!"

"Come on," the Doctor and the Hatter placed her back onto the ground, helping her to, "There you are," they smiled, "That's it".

"See?" the Hatter gave Sarah a look as she smiled, "I told you that you could do it, and now look at you. Safe and sound on top of the Dark Tower. Enjoy the flight?"

"Oh, great!" Sarah laughed, still breathless as she turned and looked back towards the way they had come, her eyes widening slightly as she took in her high they truly were, "Well, we're here," she commented, glancing at the Time Lords, "How do you reckon we get in?"

The Third Doctor looked around them before something caught his line of sight. He sent a wink at the Hatter as he stepped over to it and opened what appeared to be a door that had been had to see as it was cleverly disguised set on an angle, "Through here, would you believe?" he smiled at them.

"How very clever of you, my dear, Doctor," the Third Hatter smiled, making the Doctor's smile widen as she stepped through the door, followed by Sarah, and then the Doctor.

…._**The Death Zone, the main entrance into the Dark Tower**_…

"Now what?" Tegan sighed, glancing at the First Doctor and Hatter as they stood in front of a set of very large doors that, according to the Time Lords, was supposed to be the main entrance into the Dark Tower. She shivered slightly as thunder and lightning rumbled around them, only adding more to the creeping affect that the Tower seem to be giving out, "You're not suggesting we bang down the door, I hope".

"Now what good what that do us?" the First Hatter wondered, titling her head to the side, "Besides, nothing is ever as simple as that, now is it? At least it's not in the books".

The First Doctor ignored them both as he focused on what appeared to be a golden bell that sat on a stand in front of them, "It looks very much like a bell to me," he remarked to the girls as he tipped the side of the bell over to reveal a number pad hidden underneath.

The Hatters stepped closer to the device and carefully typed something into the keypad, a moment later; the large doors slide up slowly, making her smile slightly. It appeared that spending the little time that she had around the First Doctor was starting to rub off on her, all the fear that she had felt when she first arrived in the Death Zone seem to have lessened, and she was just not starting to truly enjoy herself for the first time in years.

"It's an entry coder," Tegan gasped, looking at the Time Lords in realisation. Finally, this seemed to be going right, or though, if travelling with her Doctor had taught her anything it was that there was always something around the corner.

….…._**The Fifth Doctor's TARDIS**_….

Susan and Turlough watched the scanner as the Cybermen outside continued attaching different cables to the large, black box device when Susan suddenly realised what it was, "It's a bomb," she breathed, swallowing hard.

Turlough glanced at the Time Lady nervously, unable to think of anything else that he could possibly say at time like that, "Big, isn't it?"

…..…_**The Dark Tower**_….…..

The First Doctor and Hatter, along with Tegan, made their way through one of the corridors in the Dark Tower, being sure to keep an eye out should anything jump out and try to attack them, after all, this was the Dark Tower and there was bound to be traps set up all over the place, hopefully nothing to dangerous but knowing the Time Lords and how ruthless they could be, that seem unlikely.

They continued down the corridor and walked out into a large, open spaced room with stone walls, and a strange red and white checked bored, similar to that of a chess board in the middle of the room on the floor. The First Doctor and Hatter exchanged looks, both feeling uneasy as they caught sight of the board.

"Don't be in such a hurry," the Doctor told Tegan with a stern tone in his voice, making the young human woman stop and look at him before she stepped onto the board, frowning at them in confusion. The Time Lord gave her another look as he reached inside his pocket and pulled out a couple of gold, Gallifreyan coins.

"You have to pay to get in?" Tegan asked, noticing the coins.

"If only it were that simple," the First Hatter sighed, looking quite grim as she eyed the board, "This little game could cost you your life, my dear, best to stand back," she patted the other woman on her arm in a Grandmotherly gesture and took a couple of steps back.

Tegan stared at her for a moment, feeling amazed once more that, that this woman, this almost Grandmotherly like figure could possibly end up becoming the young, blonde haired Time Lady who was always in the thick of things, a woman who could stand in front of a creature such as a Dalek and not even blink, could have once been this little, old lady. What happened to have changed her so much? Because Tegan was almost positive that the Hatter hadn't always been like this when she was young, not with all the stories she had heard from the Time Lady about her school days.

It just didn't make sense, shouldn't this Hatter, being the first and the youngest Hatter, shouldn't she be more…active and not taking such a sideline approach to all of this? The Hatter, well, the Hatter that Tegan knew would never have just sat back and watched from afar as the Doctor did most of the work, even when the Fourth Hatter was grieving for her companion she didn't let the Doctor do all the work, but this one, the very First Hatter wasn't. She was like a shadow of her future self, but at the same time there was something about her that was so like her future self. Confusing, that was what this whole thing with the First Hatter and her future selves was, confusing.

"Tegan?" a soft, gentle voice asked, snapping Tegan out of her thoughts to find the Time Lady giving her a concerned look, "Are you quite alright? You seemed to be in a world of your own".

"Oh, sorry," the other woman shook her head to clear her thoughts, "I was just…thinking".

"Yes, well, kindly stop," the First Doctor cut in, giving Tegan an irritated look.

"Doctor," the Hatter gave him a stern look before looking at Tegan, "I apologise for him, my dear, he can be rather difficult at times but I'm sure you're already aware of that, being a future companion of his. Or though, your Doctor appears to be less argumentative than this one, but no doubt he has his moments".

"Only when you…" Tegan smiled slightly, correcting herself, "I mean _your_ future self does. Your future self loves teasing and provoking my Doctor, she's always doing something to get under his skin like only you…she can do. It's hilarious to watch".

"My, my, I do sound like quite a handful," the Time Lady smiled, her eyes twinkling with amusement, "Or at least how you describe my future self does. You know, from what I've seen of my future self, I almost feel sorry for your Doctor. The key word being almost, of course".

The First Doctor cleared his throat loudly, cutting off whatever it was that Tegan was going to say as he gave both girls stern looks, "If you have quite finished?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Oh yes, of course," the Hatter smiled, inclining her head in his direction, "Please continue".

The Doctor nodded and turned back to the checked board, and threw one of the coins, landing one on a white tile, then another coin on a red tile, another red tile, and a fourth coin that landed on a white tile.

Tegan sighed, not seeing the point in what the Doctor was doing as she turned to him, "How long do you plan to play pitch and toss?" she asked in a tired voice.

"Patience, child," he told her loudly, Tegan rolled her eyes as he turned back to the board and tossed the fifth, and last coin onto the floor, landing it on a red tile. Suddenly, the entire board lit up with lights as an electrical current run through the board and lightening played across the board from above, "Diabolical ingenuity!" the First Doctor called, almost sounding happy as the Hatter's eyes widened in surprise, having not expect something just that dangerous, "Nothing happens until you reach the fifth row, half way, and then the entire board becomes a death trap".

"Yes, Doctor, very amusing," the Hatter said, looking pale as she swallowed thickly, "But would you please stop sounding so joyful, had we walked across then we would have been killed!"

"Our ancestors has such wonderful sense of humour," a male voice said from behind them, making them turn to see a young man with black hair slicked back, pale blue eyes, and dressed all in black with silver thread embroidered around his high collar, walking toward them with a strangely familiar smirk plastered across his face.

"Do I know you, young man?" the First Doctor questioned the stranger, eyeing him slightly. Why did he remind him of someone that he used to know?

"Believe it or not, we were at the Academy together," the man replied, smiling at them but as he caught sight of the First Hatter, his smiled grew, "And of course you, my dear Hatter, was there as well".

"Indeed," the Time Lady said slowly, eyeing the man in front of her with distrust. Something about the way he looked at her and the Doctor felt…odd, not quite right. There was something cold in his eyes as he looked at the Doctor, but when he looked at her it was something else, something she couldn't quite identify, "Well, it's always lovely to meet an old acquaintance," she inclined her head, not wanting to appear rude, no matter how creepy she may have found him.

"What do you want?" Tegan demanded, glaring at the man with anger. The First Doctor and Hatter exchanged looks as they looked in-between the stranger and Tegan, wondering just what this man had done to deserve such a heated glare.

"To help," the man replied calmly, not seeming to have notice the woman's glare.

"That's the funniest thing I've heard all day".

"Believe what you like," the man said, shrugging, but there was something in his eyes that was anything but friendly as he stared at Tegan, "I should advice you to hide. I've got very suspicious allies close behind me".

"Allis?" Tegan asked in alarm, glancing at the First Doctor and Hatter, worriedly when a group of metal men suddenly rounded the corner, clearly having followed after the strange man, "Come on!" she shouted as she grabbed her Time Lords arms and pulled them away and out of sight before the metal men could see them.

"Enter, but be careful," they heard the man say a moment later as they peeked around the corner of their hiding place to see the man with his back to the room as he stood in front of the metal men, "The fortress of the Time Lords is at your mercy".

"Why was the main gate left unguarded?" one of the metal men, the leader asked.

"Oh, the Time Lords believe that no one could survive the Death Zone," the man told them, "It's that sort of woolly thinking that'll bring about their destruction," he stood back so the leader could walk further into the room, watching as he stopped as he reached the edge of the board, "Do you fear an empty room?" the man asked, a tone of amusement creeping into his voice as he spoke, "Shall I lead the way?"

The man walked across the board and came to a stop on the sixth row before turning to face them with his arms spread out beside him with a smirk on his face as nothing happened. The First Doctor and Hatter glanced at each other, frowning slightly as they looked back to the room.

"You will cross to the far side," the leader ordered, raising his weapon and aiming it at the man to make sure the man knew that they were serious.

"Very well," he replied, turning and walking calmly to the other side of the board, stepping off as nothing happened, not even a hint of light. The Doctor, the Hatter, and Tegan exchanged baffled looks, not understanding how it the man didn't get zapped, "You see?" he called back to the group of metal men before he ran down the right side of the board and jumping off the board, and still nothing happened.

"Take the patrol across," the leader ordered his team as he went to stand off to the side with the man, watching as the other metal men began slowly and carefully making their way across the board with their weapons out, prepared to strike when the board suddenly lit up and lighten struck from the ceiling, hitting all of the metal creatures, save for the leader.

One of the creatures managed to crawl back across the board and onto the safe zone, but he was too badly damaged and fell face down onto the floor, dead. The First Doctor, Hatter, and Tegan watched, looking shocked as they exchanged looks with one another as the man hurried over to the fallen creature that had made it across the board and pretended to check it over, when he was actually grabbing the weapon, being careful to make sure the leader didn't notice him.

"You have betrayed us," the leader said, walking over to the man, "Why?" he demanded.

"Betrayed?" the man exclaimed, sounding shocked as he shook his head, "No," he stood and faced the leader, still being sure to keep the weapon concealed behind his back as he admitted hastily, "Oh, I…I might have misled you a little, but the safe path across the board changes with every journey".

The leader aimed his weapon at the man, "You will show me the safe route, or I shall destroy you," he warned.

The man took a couple of steps back before bowing deeply from its waist before straightening and stepping onto the board. He walked and stepped onto a white tile, a red tile, and a white tile as the leader began following after him when the man suddenly turned on him, raising the weapon he had stolen and fired at the leader.

The leader cried out in pain as he was hit on his chest, recoiling slightly before he tried raising his weapon, only to be shot once more, but this time by a bolt of lightning. He cried out in pain again before as his chest unit sparked and he fell onto the floor, dying.

The man started laughing as he made his way back across the board and over to the other side of the room as the First Doctor, Hatter, and Tegan came out from there hiding place, still looking quite shocked by what they just saw, "Wasn't that a little ruthless even for you?" Tegan asked angrily, glaring at the man.

"In one of the many wars on your miserable little planet, they used to drive sheep across minefields," the man replied pleasantly, clearly still enjoying himself, "The principle's the same".

"Not quite," the human women shot back, "This minefield is still just as dangerous".

"Do you think so?" he raised his eyebrows at her, almost challenging as he turned and ran back across the board in a zigzag like pattern before reaching the other side, turning back to look at them with a smirk on his face, "Try it, Doctor, Hatter, it's as easy as pie," and with that, he turned and ran out of the room, leaving them to watch after him.

"What an extraordinary fellow," the First Doctor commented, turning to the Hatter and Tegan, "As easy as pie? As easy as pie?"

"That's what he said," Tegan shrugged, looking slightly confused.

"Oh, no it wasn't," the First Hatter said slowly, looking thoughtful as she knelt down and carefully began examining the board with her eyes, being careful not to touch the board in case she accidently set off the trap, "He said easy as _pi_. As in the Greek letter pi".

The First Doctor nodded, smiling at the Time Lady, "Exactly, my dear," his smile dropped as he turned to Tegan, "Surely you know some basic mathematics, child?"

"Of course," Tegan nodded, thinking back to her school days, "The ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter is represented by the Greek letter pi, right?"

"Yes, well done," the First Hatter gave her a small smile as she stood and looked over the board, still looking thoughtful, "You may find the safe path across this board by using the mathematical formula that is pi," her face fell slightly though as she realised something, "Oh, but we don't know the application".

"Let me see, my dear," the First Doctor stepped forward, giving the Hatter a soft smile, "A fresh set of eyes can do wonders. Now, three point four one five nine two six," a broad grin spread across his face as he meet the Hatter's eyes, "Yes, that's it!" he turned and patted Tegan's arm, "You stay here, child".

He grabbed the First Hatter's hand and gently pulled her across the board with him, making it across to the other side saftly as they turned back around to look at Tegan on the other side, "Now!" both Time Lords said, the Doctor pointing his cane to show were Tegan should step first.

The human stared after them, looking tense as she sighed, "I hope you've got your sums right," she sighed as she carefully began making her way across the board.

_**So, what did you think of the Hatter's mother? I think that she means well, and she does love her children, but that she just can't help but let her Time Lord superiority complex get the better of her, luckily the Doctor managed to get to the Hatter before she could turn into something like that. Anyway, I hope you liked it, please review and tell me what you thought :)**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**The Five Doctor's and Hatter's, part 6.**_

_**Gallifrey, the conference room.**_

The Fifth Doctor and Hatter walked inside the conference room as the two citadel guards opened for them, "President Borusa, we…" the Doctor trailed off as he looked around the room and realised that there was no one there, he frowned and exchanged looks with the Fifth Hatter before looking back to the open doorway, and at the guards, "I thought you said the Lord President was in here".

"He is," one of the guards replied, stepping inside the room to look for himself as he to frowned, "Or at least he was".

"Are you quite sure about that?" the Fifth Hatter questioned, giving the guard a look.

"Positive," the guard answered, "There isn't any way he could have left without my seeing him".

"Indeed," the Time Lady nodded, exchanging a look with the Doctor as her eye caught something off to the side of the room, "Oh, but this is interesting," she smiled, walking over to the transmit cubical and examined it, "Hello old friend, it's been a good couple of centuries since I saw you last in my workshop".

"He could have used that to leave," the Fifth Doctor said thoughtfully, following after the Hatter as he looked over her shoulder.

"No, there's no power," she shook her head, glancing at him, "There's no way that he could have used this device to leave".

The Fifth Doctor nodded and turned to look at the guard, "Inform Chancellor Flavia that the Lord President has disappeared, would you?"

"Sir," the guard nodded his head to them before turning and leaving the room, shutting the door behind him. The Doctor and the Hatter exchanged looks before they quickly stared going on around the room, looking for hidden panels on the walls and around the room, anyway that Borusa could have left without being seen.

….….._**The Dark Tower**_…..

The Third Doctor, Hatter, and Sarah were walking down a set of stairs that was taking them from the top of the tower and down to the lower levels were they would, with any hope, find Rassilon's tomb, and start sorting out this whole mess.

"I can't go on," Sarah suddenly said from behind the Time Lords, making them stop to look behind them to see the young human woman looking quite frighten as she stood a couple of steps above them, fiddling with her hands nervously, "I feel as if something were pushing me back".

"It's quite alright, Sarah Jane," the Third Hatter told her gently, noticing her beginning to look panicked, "We can feel it to, it's all very normal and to be expected".

"Yes, it's the mind of Rassilon," the Doctor explained, nodding, "We must be nearing the tomb," he walked back up the steps and put his arm around her in a comforting gesture, "Now, you've got to fight it. You must keep your mind under control".

"I can't," she shook her head, looking scared the Hatter joined them and placed her hand on the other woman's shoulder, "I feel as if something absolutely terrible were going to happen".

The Third Doctor nodded, "Sit down here," he helped her to sit down on the stone steps, "Sit down. Rest for a moment. All right?" not waiting for a reply, he turned and starting walking away, the Hatter following.

"Where are you going?" Sarah asked, grabbing the Hatter's arm to stop her from going any further. The idea of being left alone right at that moment felt awful, especially being left alone in a place like a tomb.

"We won't be a second," the Third Hatter told her with a small smile, gently unclasping Sarah's hands from her trench coat sleeve so she could follow the Doctor, "Everything will be quite alright, Sarah Jane, the Doctor and I are more than capable of taking care of ourselves…" she trailed off as she gave Sarah a small wink, "Well, I am, I'm not sure about him".

Sarah laughed and shook her head, knowing that this was the Hatter's way of trying to make her feel better by adding a bit of humour to things, "Well, don't be too long," she warned with a playful finger waggle at the Time Lady.

"Yes, Mother, dear," the dark head Time Lady replied with an amused look before turning on her heel and hurrying after the Doctor who had around started walking away, but luckily he hadn't gone too far and she caught up with him a moment later.

"Is Sarah Jane alright now?" the Third Doctor asked as they turned a corner, passing by a flame lit torch as they continued on their way.

"I'm not sure if 'alright' is quite the word to use," she said thoughtfully, "But she's certainly better than before. It's amazing what a little bit of laughter can do, but I don't think we should leave her too much longer".

"Yes, we should be heading back to her," he nodded as they paused at another corner and turned back to walk the way they had come when something stopped them.

"Doctor, Hatter," the Time Lords eyes widened as they looked back down the corridor to see Mike Yates, dressed in his full uniform, rounding the corner and calling to them, "Doctor, Hatter, this way," he gestured with his hand around the corner.

"Mike?" the Third Doctor asked, frowning slightly in confusion as he took a couple of steps toward the human man, "Mike Yates? How did you get here?"

"Same way as you two," he replied, smiling at them, "Liz Shaw is here, too".

"Good heavens," the Doctor exclaimed at the same time that the Hatter said, "My, my, my".

A moment later, Liz walked around the corner and joined Mike, giving the Time Lords a friendly little wave. The Third Hatter blinked a couple of times as both Mike and Liz seemed to disappear for a moment before reappearing once more as if nothing had happened, and as she glanced at the Doctor she realised that he hadn't noticed anything. Maybe the mind of Rassilon was just playing tricks on her? Or was it something else…

"Hello, Liz," the Third Doctor smiled at the scientist, "Any more of you?"

"Someone you should know very well," Liz told them, "Come and see for yourself".

"Huh, not that little fellow in the checked trousers and black frock coat," the Third Doctor said, sounding as if the very idea was horrible.

"Now, now, Doctor," the Third Hatter said sternly, giving him a look as they followed after Liz as they walked around the corner, "I happen to like your past self, even though he could be a bit of a handful he was quite amusing to be around…that was, along as he wasn't playing that blasted recorder of his. Or though, my own past self-happened to like that recorder, but she walked around in a cape so that says quite a bit about her".

"There's more of you now, Doctor, Hatter," Liz informed them as they paused, turning to look at the Time Lords, "There are ten, five for each of you now".

"Oh, good grief," the Third Doctor sighed, not looking forward to meeting all of his future selves if they were anything like the last one, but then again, he would also be able to see the future and past Hatter's, which would make up for any of his less then desirable past or future selves.

"Oh my," the Third Hatter shook her head, "And here I was hoping that things would be nice and simple, now we have to deal with not just my future or past selves but all of the Doctors to. This is going to be jolly good fun".

"And they're waiting for you both," Mike told them with an eerie smile, the Third Hatter frowned slightly again as she suddenly felt a wave of uneasiness wash over her but tried not to show it, not wanting the Doctor or anyone else to notice her sudden change in mood.

"Yes, well, you wait here for a moment," the Third Doctor frowned, catching on to something off but not knowing quite what. His eyes meet the Hatter's and she quickly looked away, but not before he caught sight of her uneasiness, something that made him immediately become alarmed, "I'll…" he shook his head and grabbed hold of the Hatter's hand, not wanting to leave her behind if something was wrong, "We'll go and get Sarah".

They moved to walked back down the corridor when there way was suddenly blocked by Mike, "I'll fetch her," he offered.

"Oh, that won't be necessary, Mike," the Third Hatter told him polity as she tried to cover up how worried she was beginning to become, "We, the Doctor and I, will go. Poor Sarah Jane's already quite nervous, isn't she, Doctor?"

"Yes," the Third Doctor nodded, tightening his grip on the Time Lady's hand, "We'll be back in a moment…"

"Let Mike go," Liz cut in, "Your other selves need you urgently".

"No, I think we'll go, thanks," he told them before dodging around Mike, keeping a hold of the Hatter's hand as they hurried back the way they had come.

"No, Doctor, Hatter!" Mike called after them, trying to catch them but it was too late.

"Stop them!" Liz shouted.

"How?" the Time Lords called over the shoulders as they ran down the corridor, "You're phantoms, illusions of the mind!"

"Stop him!" they heard Liz cry loudly in a echoing voice that slowly stopped completely as the Time Lords ran as fast as they could back toward were they had left Sarah, keeping tight hold of each other's hands.

"What's happening?" they could hear Sarah call, "Doctor, Hatter?" the Time Lords ran around the corner, just as Sarah went to walk around and ended up colliding with the Time Lords. The Third Doctor quickly grabbed hold of her shoulder to steady her, "Doctor, Hatter!" she sighed in relief, "Oh, there you two are".

"Sarah?" the Third Doctor questioned, narrowing his eyes as he looked at her closely to try and tell if she as just another illusion as the Hatter did the same.

"Sarah?" she repeated, frowning at them in confusion as she looked in-between the Time Lords, wondering why on Earth they seemed to be staring at her with such questioning looks, "Of course I am," she shook her head at them, "What are you talking about? Listen, why did you leave me for so long? And what was that scream?"

"Oh, you know," the Third Hatter said, shrugging slightly as she glanced over her shoulder, back toward the way that they had seen Mike and Liz, "Just a couple of phantoms or what you may call ghosts from our pasts".

Sarah nodded slowly, still looking quite unsure as she eyed the Time Lords as it become clear as to why they seemed to be staring at her so oddly, "Yes, well, I'm in the present and I'm real," she reminded them.

"Yes," the Third Doctor nodded slowly, smiling slightly as he exchanged looks with the Hatter, "Yeah, you're real enough," he put his arm around Sarah's shoulders while the other remained firmly intertwined with the Time Lady's, "Come on".

They turned and headed off down another corridor, this one in another direction then the one that Mike and Liz had been down.

….…_**The**_ _**Dark Tower**_…

"Do you feel weird, Doctor, Hatter?" Tegan asked as she clutched her coat tightly around herself, as if to protect herself from whatever it was that was roaming around in the halls of the tomb.

"Full of strange fears and mysterious foreboding?" the First Doctor asked, turning around as they paused in the middle of one of the many hallways in the Tower.

"That's it".

"No, as a matter of fact, I don't," he replied, "It's all an illusion, child. We're close to the domain of Rassilon, whose mind is reaching out to attack us. Just ignore it, as I do".

"How?" Tegan asked at once, wanting nothing more than to stop feeling so…awful.

"Fear itself is largely an illusion," the First Hatter told her, placing a hand on the other woman's shoulder, "You need to concentrate, clear your mind, and try to focus on something…happy".

"Easier said than done," Tegan muttered, sighing to herself.

"Yes, well, at our age, there's little left to fear," the First Doctor smiled as he linked his arm through the Hatter's, who frowned slightly at his comment but didn't say anything, "Hmm. No, there's nothing here to harm us," he continued, turning and walking down the corridor with the Time Lady.

Tegan shivered slightly, looking around the stone corridor before following after the Time Lords.

…..…._**The Dark Tower**_….…..…..

The Second Doctor, Hatter, and the Brig made their way through a number of different corridors before finding a set of stairs leading upwards that they quickly began climbing, following after the Second Doctor while the Second Hatter and Brigadier followed up from behind.

"I don't like it, Doctor, Hatter," the Brig said to them as he looked around, worriedly as he grimaced slightly, "I feel rather unwell. Touch of nausea, I think".

"That's called fear, Alistair," the Time Lady told him, patting his arm gently, "People feel it in many different forms. It's being projected from the mind of Rassilon".

"Fear?" he questioned, raising his eyebrows, just before there was a loud scream coming from nearby, sounding as if it belonged to a women.

"Doctor, Hatter, help me!" the voice cried again from somewhere off into the distance.

The Brig moved to followed after the voice, but the Second Doctor grabbed his arm and held him back, "No," he shook his head, "It may be a trap. I'll go and see. You two wait here".

"Think again, Doctor," the Hatter replied, stepping forward at the same time that the Brig said, "Certainly not. I'm coming with you".

"Hatter…" the Doctor began to say but the Hatter held up her hand, giving him a stern look.

"Don't bother, I'm going," she told him in a tone of voice that clearly leaved no room for argument as she meet his eyes with a determined expression.

"Oh, very well," the Second Doctor sighed before turning to the Brig, pointing a warning finger at him, "But you don't get in the way".

The Brigadier opened his mouth to reply when another scream cut through the air. They exchanged concerned looks as they made their way up a set of stone steps and into a corridor before pausing as they turned into another corridor.

"Take this," the Second Doctor said, passing the torch he was still holding to the Brig just as another scream echoed through the halls, sounding just off in the distance.

"What was that?" the Brig asked, looking worriedly from the Time Lords and up toward the hall, toward the place where the screaming was coming from.

"I suppose that the only way to find out is to have a look," the Second Hatter commented, eyeing the end of the hallway with a concerned look.

"Yes, come on," the Doctor nodded as the Brig sighed to himself and hooked the torch on a bracket with a flame sprouting from the top before they made their way slowly up the corridor, and turned the corner to find two very familiar looking people, a young man and women, the man dressed in a red, tartan kilt with a black coat and white ruffled shirt, while the women was dressed in a pale blue dress, boots, and tights.

"Good grief!" the Brig exclaimed, spotting the man and woman as they came to a quick stop, recognising them immediately.

"Couldn't have said better myself, Alistair," the Hatter remarked, staring wide eyed at the man and woman, looking shocked by their sudden appearance. How long had it been since she had last seen them both? Time travel, you can never quite tell.

"Jamie!" the Doctor gasped, shocked also as he stared at his former companions, "Zoe!"

"Stay back, Doctor, Hatter!" Jamie told them quickly, holding out his hands with an urgent look on his face.

"Why, what's happening?" the Second Doctor and Hatter asked, frowning in concern as they remained were they stood.

"Don't come any closer," Zoe called to them from where she was standing a couple of steps above them, "There's a force field".

"A force field?" the Doctor repeated, shaking his head, "We'll soon see about that," he reached inside his thick coat and started searching for his sonic screwdriver as the Hatter did the same, only with the pockets on the front of her dress.

"No, don't, Doctor, Hatter!" Jamie shouted, turning panicked, "If the force field is disturbed, it'll destroy us".

"You must go back!" Zoe cried quickly.

"Well, Doctor, Hatter, what are you going to do?" the Brig turned to the Time Lords, hoping that either one of them would hurry up and come up with some bright idea so they could save poor Zoe and Jamie.

"What do you think?" the Second Hatter asked him, raising her eyebrows as she looked back to the two humans, looking concerned, "Get them out of there, of course. We can't possibly just leave them, now can we?"

"No, no, please don't, Hatter," Jamie pleaded, shaking his head quickly.

"Oh, go back," Zoe begged them, looking frightened, "Save yourselves!"

"We can't!" the Second Doctor replied loudly, desperately trying to think of a way to save his companions without endangering their lives, "The Hatter's right, we can't leave you there," he said, gesturing to where they were both standing on the steps.

"You must," Zoe insisted.

"We could find another way into the tomb area?" the Brig suggested, turning back to the Time Lords. Maybe if they reached the tomb area, then Jamie and Zoe would be released without being hurt? Or perhaps there was something in the tomb it's self that could help them?

"But Zoe and Jamie would still be trapped," the Second Doctor sighed, moving to stand in front of the Brig and the Hatter.

"The Brigadier's right!" Jamie nodded, pointing at the Brig.

"No…" the Second Hatter suddenly cut in, looking thoughtful as she took a small step closer to Jamie and Zoe, holding up her hand to stop them from shouting at her to stop as she made sure to remain within the save zone, "Would they really still be trapped?" she asked, glancing at the Doctor and the Brig, "I mean, look at them, Doctor. Really look at them and concentrate on the last memories that you have of Zoe and Jamie because if your recall what I do then…" she left her sentience hanging as she gave him a look.

The Second Doctor thought about it for a moment, doing just as she had said and thought about the last time he had seen both Zoe and Jamie, when it suddenly all came flooding back. All of it. He shook his head before meeting the Hatter's eyes to see her giving him a small smile.

"Now you see," she said quietly to him, making sure that only the Doctor could hear her.

"Yes, I think that I rather do," he replied just as quietly as her, nodding. He reached forward and took her hand, the Brig looking in-between them as he tried to figure out what was going on as the Time Lords took a step forward.

"Stay away!" Zoe cried fearfully.

"Why?" the Second Doctor asked, raising his eyebrows at them, "We can't harm you".

"One step nearer and we're dead!" Jamie shouted, holding out his hands to try and stop them from walking any closer.

"Ah, but you can't kill illusions," the Second Hatter replied calmly as she and the Doctor stepped over the invisible line between them and the two phantoms.

"Brigadier!" Jamie called, his voice echoing this time, proving that he and Zoe were, indeed, just illusions as they tried making one last attempt of keeping their secret, hoping that the Brig would stop the Time Lords before it was too late.

"You're not real," the Second Doctor said as he gave the phantoms cold looks, ignoring there useless attempts at getting the Brig's help, "When you were returned to your own people, the Time Lords erased your memory of the period you spent with me, along with all of your memories of the Hatter and her companions. So how do you know who we are?" he raised his voice, "Answer!"

Zoe and Jamie's phantoms didn't reply as they opened their mouths and started screaming, before disappearing completely as if they hadn't been there at all while the Brig watched on, opened mouthed.

"They're gone," he blinked, moving over to stand by the Time Lords.

"Yes, yes, it's sad," the Second Doctor nodded, talking softly. The Hatter gave him a comforting look, knowing just how badly he missed his companion's as she linked her arm through his, making him smile at her as they began climbing the staircase, following after the Brig.

"I still don't like it, Doctor, Hatter," he commented, glancing at the Time Lords, growing frustrated, "I don't fully understand why we're here".

"You want to get home?" the Second Doctor asked him, also starting to grow frustrated by the Brigadier's attitude.

"Doctor," the Second Hatter said quietly in a slightly warning tone, noticing her best friend's frustration.

"Of course," the Brig sighed.

"That is why we are here," the Doctor replied, pushing his frustration away, knowing that the Hatter wouldn't be very pleased if he didn't at least try, "Have faith, Brigadier. Have we ever led you astray?"

"On many occasions," he answered, thinking back to all the times when the Doctor and the Hatter were working for Unit.

"Well, this is going to be the exception," the Hatter gave him a reassuring smile before giving the Doctor a pointed look, "Right, Doctor dear?"

"Oh, yes," the Second Doctor nodded quickly before clearing his throat as the Brig gave him a look, "Come along," he said hastily, pulling the Hatter along with him as he hurried up the stairs, the Brig following after them, shaking his head.

….…._**Conference room, Gallifrey**_….….

After finding nothing that could have allowed Borusa to escape, the Fifth Doctor and Hatter decided to try the keypad set on the conference table in the middle of the room before they looked up at the room, waiting for something to happen, perhaps for a hidden door to be revealed, only nothing seemed to happened.

"Well, that was more or less useless," the Fifth Hatter sighed as she sat on the table top, letting her legs swing freely as the fabric of her dress swirled around her legs gently, "But there must be a way for him to have got out. There must be".

"And we're not going to give up until we've found it, yes?" the Fifth Doctor asked her as he straightened and cast his eyes over the room.

"Yep," she agreed, popping the 'P' as she spoke.

The Doctor glanced at her and smiled, "Comfortable?" he gestured to her sitting on the table, amusement twinkling in his baby blue eyes.

"Very," the brunette replied with a grin, giving him a small wink, "You know me, Doctor, love a good table top, and if that table top just so happens to be the table top in the Gallifreyan conference room, then that's just all the more brilliant".

"Your picturing the look on Borusa's face if he was to see you right now, aren't' you?" the Doctor raised his eyebrows, a smile spreading across his face as he started picturing how appalled there old professor would be if he could see the Hatter now.

"I certainly am," the Fifth Hatter laughed.

"I'm glad you seem to be settling into this new regeneration quickly," he said, flashing her another smile.

"So am I".

The Fifth Doctor laughed and shook his head before he spotted something odd, well, perhaps odd wasn't quite the right word but it was odd that there would be a harp sitting off to the side of the room in one of the corners with a painting of a Time Lord sitting in it while he played a harp, a harp that looked very much like the harp in the room, and with a sheet of music clearly on display in the painting.

"What's this," the Fifth Doctor said curiously, walking over to the harp and taking a closer look at it to see an inscription engraved on it, "'The Harp of Rassilon,'" he read aloud, the Hatter, growing curious also, hopped off the table and walked over to him to see for herself, "I never knew he was musical," he remarked, glancing at the Time Lady, "Did you?"

"Why should I know?" the Fifth Hatter asked him, raising her eyebrows.

"You always paid more attention in class then I did," he replied, shrugging slightly as if it was obvious.

"Doctor, to be perfectly honest with you," she sighed, a smile slowly appearing as she talked, "Gallifreyan history was never one of my favourite subjects. I mostly just day dreamed when we were in that class, I mean, there's only so many times I can listen to some story about some Time Lord who was more boring than watching paint dry or grass grow. I would end up going insane…well, more insane then I already am".

"If you spent so much of that class day dreaming, then how was it that you always came out as the top student in that class?" the Fifth Doctor asked her.

"Well, unlike you, I actually did a lot of studying," she replied simply.

"Should have known," he shook his head before growing curious again, "But what I didn't know was that Borusa was musical".

"As far as I know he didn't have a musical bone his body," the Time Lady remarked, confirming what he was already thinking.

The Doctor nodded as he casually plucked one of the strings and something clicked behind them. The Time Lords looked at each and slowly exchanged smiles, "Interesting," he commented, looking back at the harp as he plucked the same string a couple of more times, "A musical key. A combination of notes. A tune".

"Slight probable, though, Doctor," the Fifth Hatter sighed, "I haven't got a clue about how to play anything that may resemble a tune on a harp. Music and art have never been one of my strengths, and I can't help but be ever slightly concerned that you might not know either".

"Well, it just so happens that I can," the Fifth Doctor smiled at her, "You know, I've always thought it strange that out of your talents and intelligence you've always been so awful when it comes to anything to do with art or music," he said thoughtfully.

"Hey, I know how to play the piano, after all, you did teach me," she argued before rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly as he raised his eyebrows at her, "Okay, that's a bit of a lie about being able to play, I _can_ play it but I'm just not very good at it. Not anymore, at least. I haven't had the chance to practice it in centuries".

"We can't have that, can we, now?" he questioned before shaking his head, "But that's something to think about for later, right now we have to sort out this mess".

"Agreed," the Fifth Hatter nodded, "Okay, then, Doctor. Show me just how good you are at playing the harp," she gestured with her hand the instrument.

"As you wish," he replied as he set to work, playing the harp while she watched on.

….…..…_**The Dark Tower, Rassilon's Tomb**_…..….….

The First Doctor, Hatter, and Tegan continued down a corridor before they walked out into a large room with stone walls and floors throughout, just the same as all of the rest of the Tower, but only this room was far larger than one they had found. Clearly, this room could only possible be Rassilon's Tomb chamber.

As they moved further into the room, they could see a large sarcophagus sitting in the very center of the room with four marble pillars standing on each end of the stone tomb. Along the side of the tomb there were three stone emblems of what appeared to be Time Lords, but for some strange there appeared to be a blank space at the end. Off to the side of the room, the Doctor and the Hatter spotted a carved obelisk with a inscribing carved into the stone.

The Time Lords hurried over the obelisk and began slowly walking around it while they carefully examined it, looking curious. Tegan, deciding that it was probably better to just let the aging Time Lords do whatever they were doing, wondered over the Tomb and started looking at it.

A moment passed by when the First Doctor and Hatter felt a familiar presences in there minds of that of another Time Lord, as they looked up to see an older man with curly, white hair, dressed in black trousers, a red velvet smoking jacket, a white frilled shirt, and a Inverness style coat. Right beside him was a woman with black hair with a fringe, pale skin, hazel eyes, and she was dressed in plain black trousers, a black and white top, and sitting slightly horizontal on top of her head was a black, Robin Hood style hat with feathers stuck to the side. Coming from just behind the other man and woman was another young women, dressed in a pink, 20th century Earth outfit with brown hair, looking around the room as they entered.

"Ah, there you are at last, dear follow," the First Doctor greeted the other man before turning to the dark haired women standing beside the other man, "And hello to you, my dear. Now, what kept you?"

"What kept us?" the white haired man repeated, "Of all the confounded arrogance…"

"Never mind, never mind," the First Doctor waved him off as the First Hatter gave him and the other man a curious look, trying to figure out how they knew each other, "You can tell us later".

"Doctor," the First Hatter cut in, eyeing the other man and woman, "Care to explain to me who exactly these people are?"

"There us," he replied, gesturing to the man and woman, "Us in the future".

The First Hatter's eyes widened as she look back toward the man and woman, "Us?" she blinked, shaking her head in shock, "But…does that mean that I…" she trailed off, looking slightly hopeful as she looked at her…well, her future self.

"That we leave Gallifrey and go gallivanting around the Universe?" the Third Hatter raised her eyebrows as she glanced at her Doctor, "Well, we were until some rather unfortunate business happened and now were rather…stuck on the 20th century Earth. I can't tell you much more than that, as I'm sure you will understand. Time lines and all".

"Oh, of course, yes," the First Hatter nodded, understanding very well that it wouldn't be the best idea to learn to much about her own future, "I'm sorry," she shook her head, "I'm still trying to get my head wrapped around the idea of leaving Gallifrey and even though I know it was going to happen, having already spoken with another future me, it's still just so…unbelievable," she smiled to herself before looking back to her future self, "But I am rather curious to know what regeneration you are?"

"Second," the Third Hatter replied, nodding to the Third Doctor, "So is he".

"You're a Doctor to?" she blinked, looking at the Third Doctor in mild surprise.

"Hello Hatter," the Third Doctor smiled at her, looking at her with fondness.

"Oh, this is wonderful," the First Hatter smiled before she slowly lost it as she turned to her Doctor, "But what I would like to know is how you already know who they are?" she asked, "Have you meet before?"

"Hmm?" the First Doctor looked at her, nodding, "Once before, my dear, but that's a story for another time," he smiled, patting her arm as he looked back to his future self and the Third Hatter, "But you two, come and take a look at this," he gestured for them to take a look at the obelisk.

"What is it?" the Third Doctor asked his younger self and he and the Third Hatter made their way over to them and began examining the obelisk while Sarah Jane walked off to the side were Tegan joined her.

"Tegan," she introduced, holding out her hand the other women.

"Sarah," Sarah Jane shook her hand.

"Hmm," the Third Doctor commented as he walked around the obelisk, eyeing the writing, "Fascinating".

"Very," the Third Hatter agreed, her eyes lighting up as she examined the stone, running a couple of her fingers across the words.

"What happened to the little fellow?" the First Doctor asked, looking at the Third Doctor and Hatter while his Hatter gave him a questioning look, not knowing who he was referring to, "And that blonde one with glasses?"

"The little fellow is perfectly all right, thank you very much," the Second Doctor called as he walked into the chamber, pulling his coat off as the Second Hatter, and the Brigadier followed after him.

"And so is the blonde one with glasses," the Second Hatter added, strolling over to them as she pushed said glasses further up her nose, "Now, don't be rude and grumpy, Doctor," she waggled a finger at the First Doctor as a grin spread across her face, "It doesn't become you," she cast a glance at her Third self, "Same with you. Would it kill you to stop being so serious all the time?"

"Oh no," the Third Hatter groaned, putting her head in her hands as she shook it, "It's you, why does it have to be you?" she sighed as she looked back up, "You're like an over excited child hooked on caffeine".

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" the Second Hatter asked, still grinning, "Because I would have thought that you would know me better than that, sweetie," she laughed, "After all, you are _me_ and_ I'm _you".

"Rassilon, give me strength," the Third Hatter pleaded.

"It appears to be your lucky day," the First Hatter remarked as she smiled, looking rather amused by everything, "We are, after all, in his tomb".

"Huh, you know, I would have thought this place would look a little more stylish," the Second Hatter commented as she looked around the room.

"And that's coming from a woman who strolls around in a cape," the Third Hatter rolled her eyes.

"Hey!" the Second Hatter frowned, pointing a finger at her, "Say what you want about me, after all your just insulting yourself but I'm drawing the line when it comes to my cape!"

"Aw, you poor thing," the Third Hatter said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Doctors," the First Hatter turned to the three Doctor's, all of them having been standing back while they watched the Hatter's argue with each other, "Would I be right in assuming that this has happened before?"

The Doctors glanced at each other and nodded, "Yes," they replied in unison, recalling what happened when the Second and Third Hatter meet once before with the whole businesses with Omega.

It wasn't that the Second and Third Hatter's couldn't get along, they could and they could even be good friends, and work well together when they teamed up together, but they also seemed to find it entertaining to try to annoy each other and tease one another. It was similar to how the Second and Third Doctor always seemed to get on each other's nervous, only in this case both Time Ladies appeared to be doing it on purpose.

"Well then, I do believe that it's time they both stopped behaving so childish," the First Hatter said, shaking her head as she looked back to her future selves and cleared her throat loudly, making both woman look at her, "That's quite enough of that, I think, ladies. We are Time Ladies, not children…"

"Why can't we be both?" the Second Hatter cut in with an amused tone in her voice, "Time Lady, child, frog…I really see no difference".

"Now do you see what we have to put up with?" the Third Hatter spoke up, gesturing to her past self as the blonde stuck her tongue out at her, "I can't believe I'm going to say this but I actually feel sorry for the Second Doctor having to put up with her".

"Enough!" the First Hatter called, holding up her hand and giving them both stern looks, one that she used to give to her children when they were young, "We are in the Tomb of Rasslion, is it truly too hard to ask for you both to act like your age for five minutes?"

"Fine," the Second Hatter mumbled.

"I will if she does," the Third Hatter replied, shooting the blonde a look.

"Wonderful, now we can continue," the First Hatter smiled, turning back to the three Doctors, "I believe you were about to say something else?" she said, looking at the Second Doctor.

"Ah, yes, thank you," the Second Doctor nodded, giving her a small, fond smile before he looked at his future and past self, "Now of course we're here. You don't imagine anything you two could do could stump me or the Hatter, do you?" the Third Doctor rolled his eyes, clearly growing irritated by the short man while the Second Hatter tried hard to hid her amusement, "Let's have a look," he strolled forward and pushed the First and Third Doctor out of the way of the obelisk, "What's this?"

"Your being rude again, Doctor dear," the Second Hatter scolded with a playful tone as she skipped over to him to look over his shoulder while the other Doctors and Hatters went back to examining the stone.

"Brigadier?" Tegan and Sarah called, standing off to the side, having watched everything from afar.

"Good heavens," the Brig gasped as he saw them, quickly walking over to them and taking Sarah's outstretched hand, "It's Miss Smith, isn't it," he turned to Tegan and shook her hand, "Miss Jovanka. Don't ask me how we got here," he told them, throwing a glance over his shoulder towards his Time Lords, "It was like a cross between Guy Fawkes and Hollowe'en".

"Lethbridge Stewart?" the Third Doctor and Hatter looked up from the obelisk to see the Brig standing there, looking older then there Brig from Unit which could only mean that he was a future version of him, "Oh, my dear fellow," they both smiled at him as they walked over to him, shaking his hand, "How very nice to see you again".

"Great heavens, you two as well?" the Brig asked, smiling at them as he finished shaking the Third Hatter's hand, looking at them in delight, "Though I can exactly say it's nice to be here," he admitted to them, "Do you know, I was enjoying…"

"You'll have to excuse us, old chap," the Third Doctor cut him off mid-sentence, just like old times as he patted the Brig's arm, the Third Hatter forced herself to stop smiling, "We've got a very important inscription to translate and I think they'll get it all wrong without me".

"And me," the Third Hatter added, "I wouldn't trust my past selves with anything as delicate as that".

"I heard that!" the Second Hatter shouted at her, looking up.

"Oh, go an clean your glasses!" the Third Hatter shot back, grabbing her Doctor's hand and marching back over to their other selves, pushing them out of the way as the Second Doctor glared at his Third self while the First Doctor and Hatter shook their heads and went back to work.

"Typical," the Brig shook his head, walking back over to Tegan and Sarah, "Absolutely typical".

"Oh, I know, I know," Sarah nodded, thinking back to her days of traveling around with the Doctor and the Hatter, neither of them ever really changed, no matter how many times they changed their faces, "Drag you through time and space without so much as a bye or leave, then leave you out when things get interesting".

"My versions isn't any better," Tegan agreed, unable to stop herself from smiling fondly at she thought of her Doctor and Hatter, how they were always up to something together, and even though the Hatter was grieving for her companion, she still didn't hesitate to try and help in anyone way she could.

"Which one's yours?" Sarah asked her curiously, but before Tegan could reply, she was cut off by the Doctors and Hatters.

"So, that's what it's all about," the Second Doctor commented thoughtfully, looking up from the inscription, having worked out what it said, "I never dreamed…"

"It changes nothing," the First Doctor replied firmly as the First Hatter nodded her agreement from beside him, "Absolutely nothing. We lower the force field, get the young man and woman back from Gallifrey and all go home. This doesn't concern us. It mustn't".

"The Doctor's right," the First Hatter nodded, looking at her future selves, "We're here to get our future selves back and sort this entire thing out, we're not here to meddle".

"And here I was thinking that meddling was all we were good for," the Second Hatter remarked quietly to her Doctor, making him laugh before quickly turning his laughter into a cough as the Third Doctor glared at him.

"What does the inscription say?" Tegan asked them, looking to them.

"Yes, I'd quite like to know as well," the Brig nodded.

"Yes, we've all been through a great deal to get here," Sarah added, recalling having to sail through the air to reach the top of the Tower.

"You," the First Doctor pointed across to the Second Doctor, "Tell them," he nodded over to the humans.

"Hatter," the Second Doctor turned to his Hatter, holding out his elbow for her, "Care to join me?"

"It would be my honour, Lord Doctor," the Second Hatter grinned, curtsying as she whipped her hat off in a dramatic gesture before popping it back into place, and linking her arm through his while the Third Hatter shook her head at her.

"Show off," the Third Hatter said to her.

"Said the black pot to the kettle," the Second Hatter shot back, clearly amused as she and her Doctor walked over to the humans, "Now then, hello," she smiled at Tegan and Sarah, "I believe you know who I am, of course. Now first off, the inscription is written in Old High Gallifreyan…"

"The ancient language of the Time Lords," the Second Doctor added, "Not many people understand it these days…"

"Fortunately, I do," the Doctors and Hatters all said in unison, causing the Third and Second Doctors to glare at each other while the Hatters smiled at each other, all three of them looking rather amused by themselves.

"All very interesting, I'm sure, Doctors, Hatters," the Brig sighed, casting them looks as he and the girls moved closer to the Time Lords, "But what does it say?"

"That this is the Tomb of Rassilon," the Third Doctor translated.

"Where Rassilon lies in eternal sleep," the Third Hatter continued.

"It also says that anyone who's got this far has passed many dangers and shown great courage and determination," the Second Doctor added before looking closer at the inscription, "What does this bit mean?" he wondered, looking closer.

"To lose is to win and he who wins shall lose," the Third Doctor replied, giving him a look.

"I know what it says," the Second Doctor said quickly, glaring at him, "What does it mean?"

"Doctors," the Third and Second Hatter sighed, giving them both stern looks as they crossed their arms, "Play nicely, boys".

"Are you going to take your own advice?" the Third Hatter asked, glancing at the Second.

"Not a chance," she replied back, "You?"

The Third Hatter laughed, shaking her head, "You wish".

"Ladies," the First Hatter said sternly, giving them both looks before glancing at her Doctor, "Please explain the inscription to everyone, Doctor".

The First Doctor gave her a small smile and turned back to the others, "It also promises that whoever takes the ring from Rassilon's hand puts it on shall get the reward he seeks," he explained as he led the humans over to Rassilon's coffin in the center of the room.

"What reward?" Sarah asked him.

"Immortality," the First Hatter answered her.

"What, live forever?" the Brig frowned, "Never die?"

"That is what the word means, young man," the First Doctor replied, giving the Brig a look as he and the First Hatter walked back over to the obelisk.

"But that's impossible," Sarah Jane shook her head.

"Apparently not," the Third Doctor said to her.

"As someone I know quite well always used to say," the Second Hatter smiled slightly, glancing at the Doctor and back to the humans, "Nothing is impossible, just a bit unlikely".

"It seems Rassilon possesses it now," the Second Doctor said thoughtfully as the First Doctor gave a small smile to the Second Hatter, having heard what she said, "And is willing to share it with whoever takes the ring".

"Thank you, gentlemen, ladies," a voice said from the entrance into the Tomb chamber, making them turn to see the same man from earlier, or for those who really knew him, the Master, "Exactly what I needed to know," he slowly starting walking further into the room as the Second and Third Doctors quickly stepped in front of their Hatter's, "I came here to help you," he continued, "A little unwilling, but I came. My services were scorned, my help refused. Now I shall help myself to immortality".

"Out of the question," the First Doctor shook his head, stepping forward.

"I'm afraid that we can't allow that to happen," the First Hatter agreed, fighting back the urge to keep quit and let the others handle all of this. If her future selves could do it then surly she could to?

"You're hardly a suitable candidate," the Third Doctor told the Master.

"I second that!" the Third Hatter nodded, glaring at the Master.

"For anything," the Second Doctor added.

"Hear, hear!" the Second Hatter exclaimed.

The Master chuckled madly at them and pointed his tissue compression eliminator at the Hatters, or specifically, the very First Hatter, knowing that if she died then none of the other Hatters would ever have existed, "The decision is scarcely yours," he smirked at the Doctors, enjoying the horrified looks on their faces as they realised what he was doing, "Killing you was never enough for me, Doctor. How gratifying it will be for me to ensure that you will never have your happily ever after with your darling Hatter".

"Nice to see you again!" the Brig called from behind the Master before he punched his chin, knocking him out, and causing him to fall to the floor, dropping his weapon on the way.

The First Hatter blinked in shook before the First Doctor pulled her into a tight hug, while the other Hatters sighed in relief before they two were engulfed in hugs by their Doctors.

_**Merry Christmas everyone, only two more sleeps until we have to say goodbye to the Eleventh Doctor, and something tells me that there's going to be a lot of tears if Ten's regeneration was anything to go by. I don't think I'm quite ready to say goodbye yet, I haven't even been able to watch the trailer, but still, I can't wait to see what Twelfth Doctor's going to be like. Because Charismas day falls on the Wednesday, I will either post the next chapter for this tomorrow on Tuesday or on the Friday, I'm not quite sure which yet. Tell me what you thought, please review :)**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**The Five Doctors and Hatters, part 7.**_

_**The Fifth Doctors TARDIS**_

Turlough and Susan stood by the console in the TARDIS while they looked up at the scanner, watching as the Cybermen as they continued working outside.

"Leader, the bombs are ready," one of the Cybermen informed his leader as they stood a little bit off to the side, watching the rest of the Cybermen prepare everything.

"Excellent," the Leader replied, "Prepare for detonation".

The Cyberman nodded and walked back over to the rest of the Cybermen, "Your orders are to move back," he told them.

"Lieutenant," the Cyberman chorused as they began moving away in a group.

"Do you realise what they're up to?" Turlough asked Susan, staring at the screen, trying to stop himself from looking too afraid in front of the Time Lady.

"What are we going to do now?" Susan asked fearfully, feeling herself shaking.

"Die, it seems," he replied grimly.

"You know, my Aunty Hatter would probably call you a barrel of laughs," Susan remarked with a faint smile, despite still feeling terrified. Somehow, thinking about her Aunt and Grandfather always made her feel safer.

"I know," Turlough agreed, smiling slightly too.

…..…_**Citadel, Conference room**_….…..….__

The Fifth Doctor continued plucking the strings on the harp, trying to find the right tune that would hopefully reveal some sort of secret doorway while the Fifth Hatter stood beside him.

"Well, if it is a tune, what could it be?" he sighed, taking a couple of steps back from the harp, looking thoughtful, "A tune like…"

"There must be some sort of clue around here to tell us," the Fifth Hatter commented, looking around the room.

"Hang on," the Doctor said slowly, his eyes widening hopefully as he glanced at the painting hanging on the wall beside him, taking a closer look at it to see that the sheet of music in the painting was actually a real piece of music, a tune, "A tune like the one that's been under our nose all the time perhaps," he meet the Hatter's eyes and grinned.

"Oh, you brilliantly clever man," the Time Lady said, a grin slowly spreading across her face as she started laughing.

"I do try," he replied, still grinning at her as he walked back over to the harp, putting his back to the room as he positioned himself so that he could see the painting as he started playing the tune.

As he played, there was a couple of more clicks like the one they had heard earlier before the wall with the painting on it slide away to reveal a dark room behind it with different computer equipment and screens that they could only just make out.

The Fifth Doctor glanced at the Hatter, who gave a small nodded before they walked forward, stepping inside the hidden room as the door slide shut behind them. As soon as they entered, they were greeted by a large, pentagon sized device with different little models, models who looked very much like there past selves, the Master, and Doctors past companions, scattered over the lit panels, as if it was some sort of board game. Sitting right in the center of the device was another model, but this one appeared to be one of the Dark Tower.

The Fifth Hatter glanced around the rest of the room when she spotted Borusa, now dressed in all black robes and a strange looking gold coronet with purple, pinkish like gems on it as he bent over a control panel, fiddling with it. She grabbed the Doctor's hand and nodded her head over to Borusa, just as he looked up at them from the controls.

"Welcome, Doctor, Hatter," Borusa greeted them, sounding very calm, as if he hadn't just been discovered as being the one behind everything that had been going on as he slipped one of his gloves off and held out his hand to them.

"Lord President," they both replied, ignoring his hand as they stared at him.

"You both show very little surprise," he commented, taking note that they didn't appear surprised at all, more…disappointed then anything, perhaps even a little betrayed, "Can it be that you suspected me?"

"Not at first," the Fifth Doctor told him as the Hatter nodded from beside him, both having suspected that something was a little off about their old professor, but both having not wanted to believe it, "Your little charade fooled us for a little while".

"Yes, it was rather neat, wasn't it?" Borusa smirked, he had always known that it would be difficult to trick the Doctor and the Hatter, after all, he had known them since they were children, but that's just what made it all the more fun for him, "Such a pity about the Castellan," he remarked, "But then I needed someone to use for a diversion".

"A diversion?" the Hatter repeated, staring at the older Time Lord, horrified by what she was hearing and witnessing. How could this have happened? And Borusa off all people? "How can you possibly say that using another person's life like that as being a diversion, Borusa?" she demanded as the Doctor placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a small squeeze as he felt her shaking, "What happened to you?"

"You know how long I have ruled Gallifrey, Doctor, Hatter," he replied, holding up a hand to stop them as the Time Lady moved forward, stopping her from coming any closer, "Both openly or behind the scenes".

"Oh, you've done great service," the Fifth Doctor agreed, eyeing the other Time Lord carefully, "It was only right you should become President," he finished, knowing that despite what Borusa had become after all these years he had done amazing work throughout his lifetime for Gallifrey.

"President?" Borusa repeated, frowning as he shook his head, "How long before I must retire, my work half done," he shook his head again as he took a couple of steps before pausing, looking up at the celling, his voice full of ambition and passion for his work, "If I could continue…"

"Oh, I understand it now," the Fifth Hatter frowned, forcing her voice to remain calm and not show how truly upset and betrayed she felt, "You wish to remain as President throughout all of your remaining regenerations".

"Oh, you underestimate my ambition, Hatter," he shook his head, walking back around to them, "I shall be President Eternal, and rule forever".

"Immortality?" the Fifth Doctor questioned, shocked, "Oh, that's impossible, even for a Time Lord," he shook his head in disbelief.

"Rassilon achieved it," Borusa argued, "Timeless perpetual bodily regeneration," he said with an almost dreamy look on his face, "True immortality! Rassilon lives, Doctor, Hatter. He cannot die. He is immortal".

"Your insane," the Fifth Hatter breathed, staring at him in complete disbelief.

….._**The Dark Tower, Tomb of Rassilon**_….

While Sarah Jane and Tegan set to work, kneeling on the floor beside the Master's still unconscious body, they quickly began tying him up tightly with thick ropes on his hands and feet to make sure that if you should suddenly wake up again, he wouldn't be able to get too far while the Brigadier stood behind the girls, watching over them carefully. The three Doctors and Hatters stood off to the side off the room as the Third Doctor and Hatter fiddled with a control panel on the wall.

"Well, I've reversed the polarity of the neutron flow," the Third Doctor informed the others, glancing at them over his shoulder while the Second Doctor exchanged looks with his First self, the Hatters merely watching, "So the TARDIS should be free of the force field now".

"Excellent," the First Hatter smiled, looking relieved, "I was ever so worried about dear Susan and Turlough".

"Susan's here?" both the Second and Third Hatters perked up, looking interested as they looked toward the First Doctor and Hatter for answers.

"Yes, my dears," the First Doctor nodded, giving them small smiles, "She's back in the young fellows TARDIS with another young man".

"Now, I'll try to get through to the Capital," the Second Doctor cut in as he and the Second Hatter stepped forward and started typing on a transmit control panel while the other Doctors and Hatters stood behind them and watched them work.

….….…_**The Fifth Doctor's TARDIS**_….…

Susan and Turlough watch the scanner anxiously as they saw the Cybermen move off to some distance away from the TARDIS, all standing in a group as one of the Cybermen walked toward the Cyber Leader, handing him the detonation device for the bombs surrounding the TARDIS.

"All is prepared," the Cyberman informed the Leader.

"Excellent," the Leader replied, taking the device when the TARDIS suddenly started to dematerialise, cutting off the scanner, right before the bombs were detonated, but luckily the TARDIS was already gone.

"They made it!" Susan called joyfully as she ran back around the console, "They made it!"

"Are we going to the Tower?" Turlough asked her as he ran around the side of the console to join her.

"Must be," the Time Lady grinned as she looked back down at the console, checking it, "We're on pre-set co-ordinetes".

….._**The Citadel, the secret room**_…..

"Immortal, Doctor, Hatter," Borusa continued, ignoring the Hatter's last remark as he grabbed hold of the Fifth Doctor's and Hatter's arms, bring them closer together as he tried to make sure that they understood that what he was doing wasn't as bad as they thought, but that what he was doing was for the greater good, "Before Rassilon was bound, he left clues for his successor, whom he knew would follow him," he let go of them as he stepped away from them, gesturing to himself as he spoke, "Oh, I have discovered much, Doctor, Hatter. This Game control room, the casket with the scrolls, the Coronet of Rassilon," he gestured to the crown on top of his head.

"But not the final secret," the Fifth Hatter raised her eyebrows at him.

"The secret of immortality, Doctor, Hatter?" Borusa looked at them before glancing back to his models, "It lies in the Dark Tower, in the Tomb of Rassilon itself. There are many dangers, many traps".

"So, you sent us to the Zone to deal with them for you," the Fifth Doctor frowned, glancing to the model and back to him.

"I gave you companions to help," he replied as if it wasn't such a big deal as he smiled and picked up the model that looked like the Master, "And old enemy to fight. Well, it's a game within a game".

"Only you got it a little wrong, didn't you?" the Fifth Hatter said with a touch of anger in her voice, "You didn't realise that you were trying to get two incarnations of myself who were the same regeneration, only at different spots in there time line. You tried to grab two of my Fourth selves which then led to my young Fourth Self, the Doctor's Fourth self, and Romana ending up trapped in the time vortex, endangering our very existence".

"Oh, you need have no fear, Doctor, Hatter," Borusa told them calmly, standing as he started pulling his gloves back on, "Your temporal stability will be maintained. I need you both to serve me," he gave them both very serious looks.

"Oh, I would not serve you," the Fifth Doctor told him quickly, anger flashing through his eyes.

"And nor would I," the Fifth Hatter added angrily, "The Doctor and I are not your puppets or your students anymore, you have no power over either of us".

"You have no choice, Doctor, Hatter," Borusa said to them, taking no notice of them, "I wear the coronet of Rassilon".

"And very fetching it is, too," the Doctor remarked, not seeing what his point was.

"I think that a nice hat would look a lot better," the Hatter shrugged.

"It emphasises my will and allows me to control the minds of other people," Borusa informed them, not impressed by their pathetic attempts at humour, or there lack of knowledge on a subject that they should have known more about, "You bow down before me, Doctor, Hatter," he commanded them, pointing a gloved hand at them.

The Fifth Doctor and Hatter tried to battling against the power from the coronet, but the more they struggled the harder it became, and before they knew it, they had both found themselves giving in and falling to their knees on the floor against their will.

Borusa moved forward and placed a hand over both of their shoulders before walking past them, "Come, Doctor, Hatter," he ordered them, forcing them to follow him as they walked back into the conference room, the door sliding closed behind them, "It's time to go, Doctor, Hatter," he said to them as they were forced to look at him, "My immortality awaits".

…_**The Dark Tower, the Tomb of Rassilon**_….

The loud wheezing sound of the Doctor's TARDIS materialising sounding throughout the chamber as the blue police box suddenly appeared over in the corner of the chamber, Susan and Turlough stepped out a moment later and walked over to where the Doctors and Hatters were standing, still by the controls.

"Can you hear me, old fellows?" the Second Doctor called over the transmit device, the Second Hatter standing right beside him.

"Old fellows?" the Third Hatter frowned at him as she shook her head with mild announce of the idea of her future self being referred to as 'old fellow'.

"Calling the Capitol," the Second Doctor continued calling, not hearing the Third Hatter's comment, "Calling the Capitol. This is the Doctor speaking…"

"And the Hatter," the Second Hatter cut in.

"Ah, yes, and the Hatter," the Second Doctor added, glancing behind him to the other Doctors and Hatters, "Well, two of them. Can you hear us? Can you hear us, Doctor, Hatter? Is there anybody there? Calling the Capitol".

"Yes, we're here," the Fifth Doctor and Hatter came over a moment later.

"Ah, there we are," the Second Doctor smiled before shaking his head and quickly correcting himself, "I mean, there you two are," the Second Hatter gave him a look to get to the point, "We've reached the Tower. We're all safe. The barriers are down and the TARDIS is here. And I say, we've made the most extraordinary discovery…"

"We know what you have discovered," the Fifth Hatter said to them, her voice and face remaining blank and expressionless as she spoke.

"Do not transmit further," the Fifth Doctor added, just as expressionless as the brunette Time Lady, "Stay where you are and touch nothing. President Borusa is arriving to take full charge".

The screen went blank as the transmit ended.

"Touch nothing, indeed?" the Second Doctor frowned as he and the Second Hatter turned back to the others, "Who does he think he is?"

"And what about her?" the Second Hatter added, shaking her head, "Acting like she knows everything, I truly hope that's not going to become my future".

"They didn't want us to mention the Ring of Rassilon," the First Doctor commented, looking thoughtful as he exchanged looks with his Hatter as they started walking away from the controls, "Natural enough".

"Indeed," the First Hatter nodded her agreement, "Who knows who else may have been in the room with them, other than Lord Borusa…" she trailed off as she frowned, "Wait, did he say _President_ Borusa?"

"Something's wrong, you know," the Third Doctor frowned, rubbing the back of his neck, looking at his Hatter thoughtfully.

"Yes, there was something odd about how they spoke," the Third Hatter agreed, looking concerned, "And the way they looked…those expressionless facieses…"

"You two haven't changed," the Second Doctor remarked, shaking his head, looking rather amused by them, "Still finding menace in your own shadows".

"I feel the same," the First Doctor and Hatter both said as the Second Hatter nodded her agreement with them.

"Yes, so do I," the blonde Time Lady nodded, pushing her glasses back up her nose.

"Oh," the Second Doctor raised his eyebrows at them all, "Well, we shall soon see, won't we".

They turned around to see at the end of the chamber the Fifth Doctor, Hatter, and Borusa arrive in a transmit cubicle before they walked out and over to the others, the Fifth Doctor and Hatter trailing behind him.

"Doctor, Hatter, are you all right?" Tegan asked in concern as she noticed something off about the two Time Lords.

"Be silent," Borusa ordered, pointing his staff at her, "Be silent, all of you. Do not move or speak until I give you leave".

All of the humans froze on the spot, the power of the coronet making them do as they were told as Borusa walked passed them, and up to the other Doctors and Hatters while the Fifth Doctor and Hatter followed.

"Gentlemen, ladies, I owe you my thanks," Borusa said to the younger Doctors and Hatters, "You have served the purpose for which I brought you here".

"You brought us here?" the Third Doctor and Hatter asked, frowning at him.

"He's after the Ring of Rassilon," the Second Doctor realised, "He wants immortality".

"Unbelievable," the Second Hatter shook her head in disbelief, looking completely shocked by the idea that Borusa could be the one behind everything.

"And you were the one who didn't sense anything wrong," the Third Doctor remarked to his Second self.

"He's a renegade," the First Doctor said quietly to them, eyeing Borusa, "No better than that villain down there," he gestured to the Master, now awake, still lying on the ground.

"We can't allow this to happen, you know," the Second Hatter told Borusa, crossing her arms across her chest, "We simply can't allow it".

"Yes," the Third Hatter nodded in agreement, "This Tomb was sealed for very good reasons, who are we to argue with that?"

"And as soon as we're back to our own time streams, it must be sealed again," the First Doctor nodded, "Permanently!"

The Doctors and Hatters went to move forward to try and stop Borusa, but he held up his staff, stopping them in their tracks.

"Doctor, Hatter, we need you," the Second Doctor tried getting through to the Fifth Doctor and Hatter as he struggled to fight through the hold that Borusa had over him, "Join us".

"They can't," the First Hatter shook her head as she looked closely at her future self and Doctors face, "They're in some kind of…mind lock. Something's taking full control over their minds and bodies".

"Fight it, my boy, my dear, fight it!" the First Doctor encouraged before looking to his future and the Hatter's future selves, "Concentrate," he told them, "We must be one".

The Doctors and Hatters closed their eyes and focused all the power of their minds on breaking the hold over there future selves. The Fifth Doctor and Hatter's eyes twitched slightly as they started walking forward until they stopped in front of their passed selves, and looked back to Borusa.

Borusa frowned as he struggled to try and fight back against the power of six incantations of the Doctors and Hatters used their minds to force Borusa to lower the staff, breaking the connection.

"You see, Borusa?" the Fifth Doctor asked him, "Together, we're a match for you".

"Don't mess with the Doctors or Hatters unless you really want to just end up making a fool of yourself, Borusa," the Fifth Hatter grinned as she linked her arm through her Doctor's arm, making him grin back at her.

"Perhaps," Borusa glared at them, "But you will never overcome me".

"We don't need to," the Fifth Doctor replied, "Soon, Chancellor Flavia will be here with her guards, or can you overcome the whole High Council?"

"Why not?" he raised his eyebrows at them, shrugging, "I am Lord President of Gallifrey and you are all notorious renegades. We shall see who is believed".

"This is the Game of Rassilon," a loud, deep voice suddenly called throughout the chamber, making them all look up and around the room in surprise.

Borusa turned and walked over to Rassilon's sarcophagus, the Fifth Doctor and Hatter moved to followed him but the First Doctor stopped them.

"No, wait, my boy, my dear," he warned them, putting his hands on their shoulders, and stopping them going any further, "That was the voice of Rassilon. It's out of our hands now".

"Who comes to disturb Rassilon?" the voice demanded.

"I am Borusa," Borusa told the voice, climbing up the steps to the sarcophagus, "Lord President of Gallifrey".

Suddenly, a large head appeared, floating in mid-air above the sarcophagus, like a hologram, "Why have you come here?" Rassilon asked.

"I came to claim that which is promised," he replied.

"You seek immortality?"

"I do".

"Be sure," Rassilon told him, "Be very sure. Even now, it is not too late to turn back".

"I am sure," Borusa confirmed, nodding.

"And these others?" he looked toward the Doctors and Hatters.

Borusa followed his line of sight, "These are my servants," he informed the other Time Lord.

"Is this so?" Rassilon asked the Doctors and Hatters.

"It most certainly is not," the Third Doctor shouted angrily.

"How dare you!" the Third Hatter glared at Borusa, crossing her arms.

"Don't believe him!" the Second Doctor called.

"We're Time Lords!" the Second Hatter shouted, shaking her head with a slightly offended look on her face, "We serve no one but our selves…" she titled her head to the side, "Well, I suppose it depends on what you call serve…" the Third Hatter stepped on her foot, quickly cutting her off before she could say anything else.

"It's nonsense," the Fifth Doctor nodded quickly

"Please, Lord Rassilon, we speak the truth!" the Fifth Hatter shouted, nodding.

"Don't listen to them, Lord Rassilon," the First Doctor shook his head, causing all of the others, save for the First Hatter, to look at him in disbelief, "President Borusa speaks to the truth".

"The First Doctor's right," the First Hatter called to him, nodding, "These others," she gestured to her future selves and the Doctors future selves, "They have no idea what they're talking about, but we know the truth".

"You believe that Borusa deserves the immortality?" Rassilon questioned them.

"Indeed I do," the First Doctor replied.

"I can't possibly think of someone who devisers it more," the First Hatter agreed.

"He shall have it," Rassilon deemed, turning back to Borusa, "Take the ring," he told him.

Borusa reached out his hand toward Rassilon's mummified corpse lying on top of the sarcophagus and removed a large ring off his fingers, holding it up in the air for all to see.

"You claim immortality, Lord Borusa," Rassilon spoke, "You will not turn back?" he asked.

"Never!" he shouted, fully committed to becoming immortal.

"Then put on the Ring," Rassilon ordered, Borusa did exactly what Rassilon told him to do, slipping the ring onto his finger while Rassilon continued talking, "Others have come to claim immortality through the ages. It was given to them, as it shall be given to you".

The fasces of the Time Lords carved into the stone along the sarcophagus suddenly all came to life, their eyes turning red as they started flickering around the room, while the Doctors and Hatters all looked at each other in surprise and shock.

"Your place is prepared, Lord President Borusa," Rassilon informed the other man.

Borusa groaned as he clutched his head painfully, "No!" he cried while the others could only watch, "No!"

The Ring disappeared from Borusa's finger, reappearing right back to where it once sat, on Rassilon's mummified finger, just before Borusa vanished completely and his face reappeared, carved into the stone in the blank space on the sarcophagus. Borusa's eyes flicked briefly until they all turned back into stone as the hold over the companions broke and they regained their ability to move once more, and looked at each other, trying to work out just what had happened to them.

Rassilon then turned to the Doctors and Hatters, "And what of you, Doctors, Hatters?" he asked them as they stared at the spot where Borusa once stood, stunned, "Do you claim immortality too?"

The Doctors and Hatters quickly held up their hands, shaking their heads as the Second Doctor hid behind the Third, the First Hatter nervously grabbing hold of her Doctors hand, while the Second Hatter tried pulling the Third in front of her to hide her from view as the Third Hatter rolled her eyes at her and pulled herself out of her past selves grip.

"That's very kind of you," they all started mumbling nervously, "No. No, thank you!"

"No, my Lord," the Fifth Doctor quickly said, clutching his hands nervously together, "All we ask is that we be returned to our proper place in time and space".

"It shall be done," Rassilon agreed.

"Ah, there are two of us trapped in th…" the Fifth Hatter started saying but was cut off.

"I know," Rassilon interrupted, "They too shall be freed," the Fifth Doctor and Hatter both sighed in relief, exchanging looks as Rassilon continued, "So shall the one who is bound," he nodded down to the Master on the floor, "His sins will find their punishment in due time," a moment later, the Master disappeared, "It is time for you other selves to depart," he went on, "Let them make their farewells and go. You have chosen wisely, Doctor, Hatter. Farewell".

And with that, Rassilon vanished, and the First Doctor started chuckling while the First Hatter smiled broadly. The Fifth Doctor and Hatter glanced at each other, frowning slightly as they turned back to their younger selves, "Did you know what would happen?" they both asked in unison, looking in-between there First selves.

"Hmm?" the First Doctor raised his eyebrows, turning to them as he continued smiling, "Oh, I'm sorry. I suddenly realised what the old proverb meant".

"Quite clever, really," the First Hatter added, smiling widely as she exchanged looks with her Doctor, "'To lose is to win and he who wins shall lose'. It was right there the entire time. It was all a part of Rassilon's little trap, you see? It was his way of finding out who wanted immorality and put him out of the way".

"Yes," the First Doctor nodded along with his Hatter, "He knew very well that immortality was a curse, not a blessing".

"Oh, of course!" the Fifth Hatter clicked her fingers together, shaking her head, "I can't believe I didn't see that," she looked back to her First self and smiled, "Well, I guess I did see it, after all. Nice work".

"Well, now it seems we must part," the Fifth Doctor cut in, sighing slightly as he looked at his past selves fondly, "Just as I was getting to know me," he smiled before turning to the other Hatters, "And, of course, getting to know you three all over again".

"So, you're the latest model, hmm?" the Second Doctor smiled as he moved forward to get a closer look at his future self.

"Yes, and the most agreeable," the Fifth Doctor replied.

"Doctor," the Fifth Hatter said in a warning tone, giving him a look.

"Certainly the most impudent," the Second Doctor gave his future self a look, but unable to stop the corner of his mouth from twitching with amusement.

"And our dress sense hasn't improved, much, has it?" the Third Doctor added, giving his future self the once over.

"Now, Doctor, I happen to think he looks quite handsome," the Third Hatter commented as she gave the Fifth Doctor a small smile.

"So do I," the Fifth Hatter grinned, linking her arm through her Doctor's, "And not to mention that lovely hat you wear, sweetheart, I really wish you had worn it today".

"Ooh, a hat," the Second Hatter smiled, "Love a hat me".

"Ladies, do you really need to start discussing the future Doctor's clothing?" the First Hatter asked, shaking her head at them, "You know, if this is what my future is going to be, then I may just start crying".

"Relax; Grandmamma," the Fifth Hatter grinned at her, her eyes twinkling with amusement, "You're going to start making us Hatters look bad, where's that sense of humour that were all so famous for?"

"Ah, it's nice to see that we've lost all sense of modesty in years to come," the Third Hatter said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, well," the First Doctor cleared his throat, noticing the Second Hatter about to open her mouth to say something, something that would no doubt lead to an argument from between the Third and Second Hatter again as he turned to his other selves, "Neither our manners," he remarked as he held out his hand to his future self, "Well, goodbye, my boy, my dear. You both did well, quite well. It's reassuring to know that my future is in safe hands," he smiled as he turned to the Fifth Hatter, who held out her hand for him to shack, only to be surprised by him taking it and kissing her pale knuckles, "And you, my dear, it has been a pleasure to see you".

"Oh, ah…" the Fifth Hatter blinked, looking rather shocked by his action as a faint blush spread across her cheeks, "Well, it was lovely to see you," she smiled, "I was once told by a companion of mine that you never forget your first Hatter, well, I think it's the same for you, Doctor. Goodbye, and try to take care of yourself".

"I will, I will," he smiled at her before taking his Hatter's hand, who gave a small wave and smile to everyone as they started walking over to the crowed of companions, "Come along, Susan".

"Goodbye, everybody," Susan waved to everyone, giving them a bright smile.

"Goodbye," they all chorused back.

"It was lovely to see you after so long, Susan," the Fifth Hatter called to her, waving back to her as she watched her past self, the First Doctor, and Susan walk over to where the TARDIS stood.

"Time to go, Brigadier," the Second Doctor smiled as he clapped his hands together and turned back to his future selves, "Well, goodbye," he held out both his hands toward the Fifth Doctor and Hatter.

"Goodbye," the Fifth Doctor smiled at him, shaking his hand.

"And good luck," the Fifth Hatter added as she turned and shook her Seconds selves hands, "Same with you, okay?" she gave her a smile, "Try and keep out of trouble".

"Not a chance," the Second Hatter grinned back at her future self, giving her a wink that made her future self-laugh, shaking her head as the First Doctor, Hatter, and Susan walked inside the TARDIS.

The Second Doctor turned to his Third self, holding out his hand, "Goodbye…fancy pants," he grabbed hold of his Hatter's hand and turned to leave.

"Doctor," the Second Hatter sighed.

"Scarecrow," the Third Doctor shot back, causing his past self to turn back and give him a sharp look before heading back toward the TARDIS, pulling his Hatter along with him.

"Doctor, don't be rude," the Third Hatter scolded, giving her Doctor a stern look while there future selves watched on with amusement.

"Doctor, don't you want your coat?" the Brig called to the Second Doctor and Hatter.

"Bring it along, would you, Brigadier?" the Second Doctor called back as he and the Second Hatter entered the TARDIS.

"Certainly," the Brig sighed, picking up the fur coat and putting it over his arm as he walked over to the Fifth Doctor, Hatter, the Third Doctor, Hatter, "Goodbye, Doctor, Hatter," he smiled at them.

"Goodbye," the Fifth Doctor smiled.

"Farewell," the Fifth Hatter nodded to him with a bright smile.

"Doctors," he broke into a grin, "Hatters".

"Brigadier," the Third Doctor nodded to him.

"Alistair," the Third Hatter gave him a small wave.

"Splendid fellows, all of you," the Brig said to them before looking at the Hatters, "And extraordinary ladies, all of you".

"Right back at you," the Fifth Hatter laughed as they watch him turn and walked inside the TARDIS.

"Well, goodbye, my dear chap," the Third Doctor smiled as he shook his future selves hand, "I must say, I've had the time of my lives. Haven't we, Sarah Jane?" he turned as Sarah made her way over to them, staring at the future Doctor and Hatter.

"Have we?" she asked him, "Well, I only have one life and I think I've had too much already," she smiled as she looked at the future Doctor and Hatter, "Goodbye," she hesitated slightly as she shook the Future Doctors hand and then the Hatters, "Eh, yes, it was really nice to meet you both".

"Thank you, Sarah Jane," the Third Doctor answered as the Fifth Hatter hid her smile, "It was very nice to meeting you, too".

"Yes, we really should do it again sometime," the Third Hatter added, meeting her future selves eyes and trying to hold back her laughter.

"What?" Sarah frowned at them, looking confused.

"We'll explain it later," the Third Hatter smiled at her, patting her shoulder fondly.

"Oh," she nodded quietly, "Fine".

"Well, it was certainly lovely to meet you, my dear," the Third Doctor grinned as he turned to the Fifth Hatter.

"And you, Doctor," the Fifth Hatter smiled, pulling him into a quick hug before stepping back, turning to her past self, "You take care of him, alright?" she told her, "Try and make sure he doesn't go to insane on Earth".

"Too late for that, I'm afraid," the Third Hatter laughed as she glanced at her Doctor and Sarah, "Well, I suppose we should be off".

"Yes," the Third Doctor nodded, taking her hand, "Come along, you two," they turned and walked over to the TARDIS, stepping inside.

The Doctor sighed as he turned to his Hatter, shaking his head, "I'm defiantly not the man I was," he meet her eyes as she laughed, "Thank goodness".

"Oh, come now, Doctor," the Hatter grinned at him, nudging his side, "They weren't all bad, I think today was a good way for us to be able to see how far we've truly come since all those centuries ago," she frowned slowly as she thought about he First self and how scared she had been in the beginning, and how she had slowly become comfortable with everything going on around them, it was nice to see that transformation happen over such a short period of time.

"Are we going home together?" Tegan frowned as she walked over to them with Turlough, glancing over her shoulder towards the TARDIS.

"Watch," the Doctor and the Hatter replied simply, nodding over to the TARDIS.

They turned back and watched as the Time Scoop appeared and starting taking the various Doctors and companions away, heading back to their correct time zones as if they hadn't left at all.

"Temporal fission," the Doctor explained to his companions, "Old Rassilon is very clever".

"That and he appears to have an odd sense of humour," the Hatter commented, thinking about how amused Rassilon had looked when Borusa had been turned to stone.

Suddenly, the transmit cubicle activated again and Chancellor Flavia stepped out, followed by two sets of guards in rows of twos behind her, trailing behind her as she walked towards them.

"You are safe, Doctor, Hatter," she said as more of a statement than anything else, "I feared President Borusa had…" she stopped as she realised that Borusa was nowhere to be seen, "Where is President Borusa?"

"Unavailable, I'm afraid," the Hatter told her grimly.

"It seems the legend about Rassilon is true," the Doctor added.

"You both must make full statements to the High Council," Flavia said to them, looking very serious.

"Oh, must we?" the Doctor asked, his face falling.

"Yes, that sounds awfully boring," the Hatter nodded, looking as if she was preparing herself to start running as far and as fast as she could so that she wouldn't have to do it.

"It can form part of you inaugural address," she told them, sounding rather pleased by the idea.

"My what?" they both asked, freezing on the spot as they gaped at her. How could they both be…but that wasn't possible…

"Doctor, Hatter, you have both evaded your responsibilities for far too long," Flavia said to them, looking stern and determined as the Doctor and the Hatter glanced at each other, looking rather nervous, "The disqualification of President Borusa leaves a gap at the very summit of the Time Lord hierarchy," she said mainly to the Doctor, "There is only one who can take this place," she told him as the Hatter bit her bottom lip, glancing in-between them both as she realised what was coming, "Yet again, it is my duty and my pleasure to inform you, Doctor, that the full Council has exercised its emergency powers to appoint you to the position of President, to take office immediately".

"Oh, no," the Doctor breathed, looking anything but happy by what he was hearing as the Hatter tried very hard to stop herself from smiling.

"This is a summons no Time Lord dare refuse," Flavia frowned at him, "To disobey the will of the High Council will attract the severest penalties," she warned him before turning to the Hatter, making her quickly become sober as all humour that she had been feeling suddenly vanished, "You, Dame Hatter of Blyledge, also known as the Gifted One, have also be evading you duties to Gallifrey for too long," she told the other Time Lady seriously, "It is time that you return to Gallifrey and your duties, effective immediately".

"Or what?" the brunette Time Lady asked her apprehensively.

"Or you too shall face punishment," she replied, "You will, of course, be expected to make a speech to the Council upon your return that will show to all that you are just as serious about your duties as ever before, and you will also be needed to swear an oath to," she nodded to the Doctor, "The Lord President that you will not leave your duties as you did before without his sole permission to do so".

"Ah, right," the Hatter muttered, glancing at the Doctor who gave her a small nod, telling her that he had a plan before he turned back to Flavia.

"Very well, Chancellor Flavia," he said to her, thinking quickly as he turned to the Hatter, "Now, my Lady Hatter, you wish to ask me something, I believe?" he gave her a pointed look.

"Oh, yes, I do, my Lord President," the Hatter nodded, giving him a small curtsy as she forced herself to remain serious, "I wish to ask you if I could possibly be given the right and freedom to travel the Universe, throughout space and time, from this day forward until such a time that you may deem that I must return to continue with my duties as the Gifted One, my Lord".

"Granted," the Doctor gave her a nod as he too tried to remain serious as they looked towards Flavia, "See that it's done, thank you," Flavia nodded to him, "Excellent. Now, you will return to Gallifrey immediately and summon the High Council," he ordered Flavia, "You have full deputy powers until I return. Dame Hatter and I shall travel in my TARDIS".

"Oh, but Doctor…" Flavia began.

"You will address me by my proper title," the Doctor turned back to her, giving her a firm look, leaving no room for argument, "I am President, am I not? You will obey my commands," he glanced at Tegan and Turlough, telling them, "Into the TARDIS," before looking to the guards, "You will escort Chancellor Flavia back to her duties," and grabbed the Hatter's hand as they turned and ran over to the TARDIS.

"Doctor, Hatter, wait!" Flavia called after them, but it was too late, they had already ran inside the time machine and closed the doors behind them, leaving her with no other choice but to go back to Gallifrey and back to work.

…_**The TARDIS**_…

The Doctor and the Hatter quickly ran back inside the console and rushed over to the controls, "Hold tight," the Doctor said to his companions as he and the Hatter dematerialised the TARDIS before the Time Lords could try coming after them again.

As soon as they had taken off and were save and sound in the time vortex, the Doctor and the Hatter looked at each other, sighing in relief as they both draped their arms around each other's shoulders as they started walking towards the doors that led off to the corridors .

"It'll soon be goodbye, then," Tegan said gloomily, glancing at them as they stopped in the doorway.

"Will it?" the Doctor asked, not understanding what she meant.

"Well, you're off to Gallifrey to be President," Turlough said to them, glancing at the Hatter, "And your off to carry out all of those duties you have," he clapped his hands together as he gave the Doctor a look, "I suppose your Time Lord subjects will find a TARDIS that really works and get us both home?"

"Wait, who said anything about the Doctor and I going back to Gallifrey?" the Hatter questioned them.

"Well, you, Doctor, told Chancellor Flavia…" Turlough started saying as he looked at the Doctor.

"I told her she had full deputy power until I returned," the Doctor corrected him, "And I also gave the Hatter permission to leave Gallifrey until I say so," he flashed the Time Lady a bright grin, "Which will never happen unless you ask me to".

"Don't get your hopes up, Doctor," the Hatter told him playfully.

"You're not going home?" Tegan asked them both, looking hopeful.

"You know, sometimes, Tegan, you take my breath away," the Doctor laughed, grabbing the Hatter's hand again and heading towards the doors once more.

"Eh, won't the Time Lords be very angry?" Turlough asked, making them turn back around to face them.

"Furious," the Hatter grinned.

"You mean you're deliberately choosing to go on the run from your own people in a rackety old TARDIS?" Tegan stared at the Doctor in amazement.

"Why not?" the Doctor grinned, shrugging as he exchanged looks with the Hatter, "After all, that's how it all started".

_**One more chapter to go and it's all original work, with a little over 8, 000 words, I believe and it will show what happened after the Doctors and the Hatters returned to their own time lines, so I can't wait for that. And also, did anyone else get upset when 11 regenerated? I had only just got over 10 regenerating and now they've gone and done this, oh, who am I kidding? I'll never be over any of the Doctors regenerating. Tell me what you thought, please review :)**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**The Five Doctors and Hatters, part 8.**_

_**Gallifrey, the House of Blyledge**_

The Hatter tapped the end of her fountain pen on the hard wood surfaces as she stared down at the parchment laid out in front of her as she tried thinking of ways that she could possibly explain to her parents and others why she needed to leave Gallifrey and how she was supposed to say goodbye to her family.

Her face, wrinkled and lined like that of a map, scrunched up in concentration and thought as her mind drifted back against her will to years since long past her by, centuries ago, when she was still just a child, filed with ideas and beliefs of what the world must be like, having no real idea of how hard real life could be or knowledge of all that she would one day go through, she would sit by her window late at night and stare out across her family's lands, and dream of what it would be like to look outside that old window and one day be meet by a brand new sky, a brand new sun, and a brand new…everything. The idea it's self-had been a mere dream, nothing but a child's fantasy to others, and as time went by, the little girl started to believe what people would tell her about her simply letting her imagination get the better of her, until one day, that all change.

She could still remember when she was a child that day she meet him, Theta Sigma, her best friend. She remembered how she told him about her childhood dreams and fantasy's and unlike others before him, even her own parents, he didn't scoff at her or laugh, he smiled at her and started telling her all about his dreams and wishes of leaving Gallifrey and one day traveling the Universe, just as she had dreamed so often before.

Of course, things had changed now; she had been married off at the young age of two hundred, hardly out of school, and not long after, so was the Doctor. The years passed by and eventually the Doctor and his granddaughter ran off, just as they had planned to do for years before Susan had even been born, while she had stayed behind to take care of her children, but as the years went by, things only began growing worse and eventually her mother discovered that her daughter had been keeping the secret of her abuse from almost everyone, and not long after that, she was freed from her hell of a marriage, but at a massive coast that she had never anticipated. Her children, turning their backs on their own mother after they had been convinced by the father into believing there mother was a lying and simply wanted revenge for who knows what, and now, she was stuck living with her parents, but not anymore.

The Hatter shook her head, clearing her thoughts away as she pushed a piece of grey hair that had slipped out of her elaborate hair style as she forced her thoughts back onto the farewell letter half written in front of her, trying to think of just what she could possibly say to explain everything to her parents, and whoever else may read it later, just when a knock sounded on the door.

"Wait a moment, please!" the Time Lady called, forcing her voice to remain calm and normal, rather than panicked filled as she felt as she quickly grabbed all evidence of what she maybe planning and shoved it under her bed before she straightened and hurried over to her full length mirror, quickly smoothing her hair and gown down. She stared at her reflection for a moment before nodding in approval as she walked back to the middle of her room, clasping her hands together in front of her, "Very well, you may enter," she called.

The door crept opened and a young woman with shoulder length, straight brown hair, brown eyes, pale skin, and dressed in a red dress stepped inside, raising her eyebrows at the older Time Lady, "Everything alright, Aunty Hatter?" she asked.

The Hatter sighed in relief, allowing her position to relax once more as she let her hands fall back to her sides, "Yes, everything is quite alright, Os," she informed the other Time Lady as she gave her a small smile, "But I must say that this is a lovely surprise, my dear, last time I saw you, you were trying to get yourself that job as a teacher at the academy".

"Well, I got the job," Os smiled proudly.

"Oh, well done," the Hatter's face split into a wide smile, "Come here," she gestured for Os to walk over and gave her a tight hug before releasing her, looking very proud at her niece, "My, my, look at you," she put a finger under Os's chin and lifted it, "You've grown so much, my dear, I can still remember bouncing you up and down on knee when you were just a Time Tot," she laughed as Os blushed.

"Aunty Hatter," OS groaned, "Stop it, you'll end up embarrassing me".

"That's my job, isn't it?" the older Time Lady smiled before turning serious and fixing the younger women with a look, "Now, tell me, what brings you here, my dear? You should be busy planning classes, not visiting me".

"Family dinner," she replied, making a face.

"Oh, dear," the Hatter sighed, her face looking horrified by the prospect, "Not another one, didn't we just have one?"

"Yeah, ten years ago," Os answered, shaking her head.

"Ah, well, that just goes to show how awful they truly are then," she nodded.

"I don't know why you're so concerned about it," Os raised her eyebrows at her Aunt, giving her a look as a small smile played across her lips.

"I'm sorry?"

"I know what you're planning," she told the other women, making her freeze on the spot as her eyes went straight to her nieces brown ones, "Did you really think you could run away from Gallifrey without me noticing something was up with you? Come on, Aunty Hatter, you taught me everything you know about sneaking around and finding information out".

"I assure you, Os, I have no idea what you speak off," the Hatter said firmly, turning away and walking over to her window, looking out over her family grounds as the twin suns began to set, causing the silver leaves on the tress to look as if they were on fire. It truly was a stunning thing to witness, even after four centuries of witnessing it happened each and every night and morning.

"And now you're lying to your own niece," Os walked over to her and looked outside the window, still with the same smile playing across her face, "Well, trying to, more like failing miserably," she glanced at her Aunt, "You know, you can tell me the truth, you don't need to hid it, I won't tell anyone. Actually, I want to help you".

"No," the Hatter frowned, shaking her head as she glanced at Os, "I don't want to drag you into this, I can handle it, my dear".

"Oh, right," she nodded, but there was something about the way she spoke that made the Hatter narrow her eyes at her, "So, I guess you won't be needing these, then?" she held up her hand to show a key, and not just any key, a TARDIS key, swing on a silver chain on her finger.

The Hatter blinked as she looked from the key and back to Os, "Is that…" she trailed off, shaking her head, "Is that the family TARDIS key?"

"Yep," Os grinned, swinging the key around her finger again, "Surprised?"

"And how, may I ask, did you get that, young lady?"

"I'm very clever".

"Or perhaps you have a death wish," the Hatter replied, giving her a half stern, half concerned look, "If your Grandfather, my Father finds out you stole that from him, then he's going to be furious".

"Exactly," Os shrugged, not looking concerned in the slightest, "Hence, why you have to take it from me right now, so that he won't be able to link it back to me, and I won't end up in trouble and you won't feel guilty about me getting in trouble".

The Hatter stared at her for a moment before slowly smiling, "Well, it would appears that the pupil has out done the teacher," Os grinned broadly at her, "It seems that my work here is done," she held out her hand and shook the other woman's hand.

"So, you'll take the key, then?" Os asked her, raising her eyebrows.

The other Time Lady hesitated before slowly reaching out and taking the key, closing her hand around it, "Thank you," she said gratefully, knowing that it would have been extremely difficult to get close enough to her father to steal the key, but luckily Os had a far closer relationship with her Grandfather then most people in the family did.

"Don't mention it," Os shrugged it off, giving her a bright smile, "Just go out there and…run and remember me, you clever girl".

"Oh, I would hardly call myself a girl anymore," the Hatter laughed before pulling her into another hug, "But I promise, I'll always remember you, Os," she whispered in her ear as they pulled back and she smoothed Os's hair down, "No matter how long or far I may travel, I'll always remember my sweet niece, and I do hope you'll remember your old, favourite Aunt?"

Os laughed, "Aunty Hatter, trust me, I'm always going to remember you," she grinned.

"Good girl," the elder Time Lady smiled before a sudden thought came to her, "But I'm not quite finished yet, I still need to finish writing my farewell letter out," she sighed as she walked back over to her bed and retrieved the half written letter from under it, and walked back over to her desk as she sat down and started scribbling away again as Os came and stood behind her, looking at the letter over her shoulder, "Do you think that this will do?" she asked, glancing up as she finished writing out the letter.

"Honestly, do you really think that when they find the letter they'll really care what it says?" Os raised her eyebrows, "They'll be too busy worrying about you being missing, not to mention that you've ran away from your duties. You do relies that you're going to become a renegade because of this, don't you?"

"Indeed I do," the Hatter nodded, frowning slightly as she folded the letter over a couple of times before sitting it back down on the table top, "And I do not take it very lightly, let me tell you, but If I stay here for one more day then I fear that I shall go completely insane, and I would prefer being partially insane, then fully. I mean, just look at the Master or the Doctor, there both completely mental".

Os laughed, shaking her head as she remembered all of the stories she had been told about the Doctor and Hatter's time at school, "I'm going to miss you, Aunty Hatter," she smiled at her.

"Oh, you'll be far too busy with your work to miss me, my dear," she shook her head, smiling slightly as she took one last look at her room before turning back Os and giving her a firm look, "Now, you had best get down stairs before someone notices that we're both missing while I make my escape".

"Be careful," Os gave her a serious look, "And…when you do get out there, find the Doctor. He needs you a lot more then he realises yet, and you need him."

"That will be my very first stop, then," the Hatter nodded, smiling brightly as she thought of all the places she would now be able to go and see for herself, and not just have to read about in one of her books, "Now, off you go, my dear," she started gently ushering Os towards the door, opening it and stepping out and into the hallway that was luckily empty of everyone, including the guards. That must have been Os's doing.

"Yes, yes, Aunt, I heard you the first time," Os waved her hand around as she started walking down the left hand side of the hallway backwards, "Bye-bye," she grinned before turning around and running down the rest of the hall, disappearing around a corner.

The Hatter smiled softly, shaking her head slightly as she nervously brushed her dress down and tucked a lose piece of hair back before taking a couple of more deep breaths, preparing herself. Once she was quite sure that she wasn't about to run back inside her room and decide to give up this completely undeliverable plan of hers, she turned and started hurrying as quickly as she could down the right hand side of the hallway, turning a couple of corners, hurrying down a set of stairs before reaching the ground floor.

She paused briefly, listening closely to the surrounding rooms that came off from the entrance hall room, making sure that no one had noticed anything odd or that no one was about to walk out and see her before she quickly ran across the hall and over to a set of double doors, stepping inside to be meet by her father's office. The room itself was quite large and beautiful, with dark wooden furniture and shelving lining the walls, and with a large, stone fireplace. The room was rather old fashioned, something you would probably have seen a good five centuries ago, but seeing as the House of Blyledge predated even that of Rassilon, it was really no surprise. That, and the fact that she could still remember vividly hearing stories about her Grandmother having been very strict when it came to how the deco should be, so was it any wonder that her father, who had adored his mother and looked up to her as somewhat like a hero, being that she had become Madam President, and thus, the entire house had remained almost exactly as it had been throughout the Hatter's Grandmother life. Honestly, the enter idea of the house staying the same for all those centuries was just plain creepy to her, and it also added to the effect of making the enter place feel like a museum…or a mausoleum. What a cheery thought.

Shaking her head to clear away her thoughts, making a mental note to not allow herself to get so distracted in future, she carefully closed the doors behind, being very sure not to make a sound before she turned back to the room and walked over to her father's desk, popping the top draw open to reveal a control panel inside. She hesitated for a moment, biting her lower limp as she tried recalling the correct code as she entered it into the device.

A few anxious moments passed before a soft clicking sound sounded as the bookcase on the side of the room slide open to reveal a dark room on the other side, the room that housed the family TARDIS and any other visiting guests. Sighing in relief, seeing as if she had got the code wrong then alarms would have gone off, she quickly closed the draw and hurried inside the room, the door sliding shut behind her as the lights flickered on.

The room was a largish cycler room with four or five spots around the side of the room, like those spots that humans would call car parks, all empty save for one were the family TARDIS was directly across from the door. The Hatter cast a look over her shoulder toward the closed door, still amazed that she was doing something like this in the first place, as she walked forwards and put the key into the lock, clicking the door open before stepping inside.

She had never been inside her family's TARDIS before, or really any real TARDIS...well, she had snuck inside one with the Doctor when they were still children, but that didn't exactly count seeing as the TARDIS in question was a museum piece, not that, that stopped the Doctor from 'borrowing' it. No, the last time she had even seen a TARDIS console was back in school when she was taking her TARDIS exam, after she and the Doctor had snuck inside the museum, so this was all brand new for her, which was strange considering how much time she spent helping the Doctor and Susan plan their escape in the first place, but that was another story.

The console room was…well, it looked like an oversized chess board with everything being black and white, the floors being black and white check, and the walls being white while the ceiling and the door leading to the rest of the TARDIS was black.

The Hatter sighed as she cast an eye around the room, taking it all in, "Well, this simply won't do," she shook her head as she walked over to the console and placed a hand on it, smiling as she felt the machine give a small hum, "Ah, but deco aside, you are just simply gorgeous, aren't you? Everything else can be changed, my sweet".

A wide smile remained fixed to her face as she started up the machine, wondering around the console as she took off and managed to leave Gallifrey without any trouble, when a funny sort of warm feeling began spreading through her body, from the top of her head and down to her toes, making her frown as she looked down at her hand to see it glowing with a golden, orange light.

"Ah, yes, quite right," she commented to herself, eyeing her hand with mild curiosity as she looked at her other hand, seeing the same glow coming from it, "Out with the old and in with the new. Well, then, this is going to be quite interesting, I wonder what the new me will be like?" the glow began increasing around her as the warm feeling slowly began changing to a rather uncomfortable hot feeling, making her wince slightly, "Here goes nothing!"

The golden light suddenly burst out of her fingers, forcing her arms to spread out to here sides as her head was thrown back as the light consumed her as her cry of pain echoed loudly around the room…

…..…._**The Second Doctor's TARDIS**_….…

"Hatter," the Doctor called as he entered the library, spotting the blonde Time Lady standing in the center of the huge room, causing her to turn as she heard her name being called to see the Doctor.

"Doctor," she smiled at him before frowning slightly as she looked around the room with an odd look on her face, "I'm sorry," she shook her head, glancing back at him, "I seem to have forgotten what I was doing…"

The Doctor let out a relieved sigh, making her give him a look, "Ah, so it's not just me then," he commented, nodding, "I was worried that perhaps something rather strange was happening to me…"

"And the fact that we're both appearing to be suffering from memory lose doesn't make you worried that something is going on still?" the Hatter raised her eyebrows at him from behind her glasses, shaking her head in disbelief at him, "Honestly, Doctor".

"Yes, well, I'm sure we'll work it out soon enough," he replied, clearing his throat slightly as he so often did in this regeneration, "What was the last thing you can remember?"

She thought about it for a moment, "Well, I suppose that would be when we went to see Alistair," she answered, nodding slowly, "Yes, I clearly remember that we barged our way into his office, well, his old office and spoke with him before we went for that short walk outside and then…" she trailed off as she frowned, shaking her head as she looked back to the Doctor, "And then everything goes foggy and the next thing I remember is standing here and hearing you calling for me".

"Hmm, yes, that's the same for me," the Doctor nodded with a small frown of his own as he started patting his coat down, searching for something.

"Oh, Doctor, is this really so difficult to work out that you need to play with your recorder?" the Hatter asked, not that she didn't find the Doctor playing with his beloved recorder amusing, and perhaps even a little cute, or though she would never tell him that, but it could become a bit tiresome at times.

"That's like me saying that you shouldn't wear your glasses, but you still will, no matter what I say," he replied, still searching.

"Yeah, well, I have a very good reason for wearing them, Doctor dear," she rolled her eyes, "I can't see without them, now, do you really want to have to hold my hand and led me around everywhere we go just so I don't end up knocking myself out by walking into a wall or something?"

The Doctor stared at her for a moment with a strange look on his face, as if he was picture something both pleasant and something caught between amusement and concern before he shook his head, "Oh, my dear, Hatter," he smiled brightly at her, "You know I would never want any harm to come to you".

"So, does that mean that you're going to stop trying to take me on a holiday?" she asked him cheekily, looking as if she was trying to hold back laughter, "I mean, you're an extremely talented and clever man…"

"I think the words you're looking for is genies and dashingly handsome," the Doctor cut in with a grin.

"Who has a huge ego," the Hatter continued as if he hadn't spoken, smiling slightly herself when he pouted, "But would it really kill you to let me help you drive the old girl? I know how to drive her without ending up in the completely wrong time zone or planet; you have already proven more than once that you seem incapable of doing so".

"I thought were talking about our strange memory lose?" he raised her eyebrows at her, trying to distract her.

"Indeed we were but then you started looking for your recorder," the Hatter shrugged, "So I thought it was best to wait until you found it before continuing".

"I'll find it later," the Doctor replied, looking slightly disappointed by not being able to find it but his concern for whatever had caused this strange lose in their memories was bothering him more than the loss of his recorder, for the time being, that is. After all, for all they could have known, they could have gone to another Universe or something like that and not remember it, and that would have been a terrible shame, "But first we need to find out why our sudden memory lose".

"Do you think that Alistair might remember what happened?" the blonde Time Lady questioned, looking thoughtful as she pushed her glasses back up her nose to stop them from slipping, making a mental note to herself that she really needed to do something about that.

"Hmm," he hummed thoughtfully for a moment before shaking his head, "If the Brigadier was with us, then he would have surly had his memory erased to".

"Okay, then, perhaps we should try thinking of who it could have possibly been to have erased our memories," the Hatter nodded slowly, "And I can only think of one race with the technology to be able to do it," she sighed, meeting the Doctors eyes as they both said, "The Time Lords".

"Of course," the Doctor frowned, looking slightly angry by the idea that the Time Lords could have done something like this to them, and then just made them forget it, "We should have known that immediately. But it does make you wonder why they would have made us forget?" he continued.

"Perhaps it was something top secret," the Hatter suggested, "You know how the Time Lords can be, completely paranoid," she rolled her eyes before she grew slightly angry, "Or though, by rights we should make a formal complaint. How dare they go meddling with our personnel memories like that. I hate it when people go meddling with my own mind, it's simply wrong".

The Doctor gave her a understanding look as he pulled her into a hug, knowing that she was thinking of the time that the Master had forced her to forget about witnessing him murder her cousin, while she continued on being friends with him without any idea of what he had done, and that only made the Doctor's anger towards what the Time Lords had down to their memories all the more worse, knowing that it was causing distress to his Hatter.

"We must do something, Doctor," she said, sounding determined as she looked at him, "We can't just let them take our memories away like that".

"Are you saying that we should go to Gallifrey and demanded that the High Council return them?" the Doctor asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"So, what if I am?" she raised her eyebrows at him, crossing her arms across her chest with an almost challenging look in her eyes, replacing her usually amused twinkle that she always seemed to have.

"Hatter, the Time Lords would never listen to us," the Doctor told her, the Hatter sighed, nodding slowly as she realised just how true his words were, "And in any case, we have no proof that the Time Lords did it in the first place. We would be laughed out of Gallifrey, and that's if they don't try to keep you back there. You know how much they would love to have you back".

"Well, what are we supposed to do, then?" the Hatter asked, sounding rather hopeless about it all, something that made him want to grimace. She never sounded hopeless, not even when they were facing a life or death siltation she still remained hopeful, this whole thing had really had an impact on her, "Hmm, Doctor? Are we just going to sit around here and drink tea?

"Well, I had thought that we could possibly have a cup of tea on the Earth's moon…" he trailed off as he noticed her eyes suddenly become brighter.

"Tea on the Earth's moon you say?" she slowly began smiling at the idea.

"Oh, yes," the Doctor smiled at her, "It's beautiful this time of year, we really must go, my Hatter".

"I suppose that it would be a rather good distraction from this whole memory loss business," the Hatter nodded, her eyes regaining that same amused twinkle as she looked at the Doctor, "And I would love a nice cup of tea, the view of the Earth from above it would simply be a bonus".

"Excellent," the Doctor grinned, "Well, then, we had best be going, my dear," he grabbed her hand and began pulling her towards the library doors, "Or we'll be late for tea!"

The Hatter laughed as she let him drag her through the corridors towards the console room, "I can't believe that you just used an Alice in Wonderland joke, and on me, of all people," she grinned at him.

"Who better to make Alice in Wonderland jokes with then you?" he winked at her, grinning broadly at having finally managed to cheer her up, "My Mad Hatter".

….….….._**Unit HQ**_….…..…

The Doctor and the Hatter climbed out of old Bessie, closing the little yellow cars doors behind them after they returned back to Unit's main base after going for their little joyride in the country side, while they had been trying to avoid having to write out the reports that the Brigadier had been telling them to write, well, the Hatter hadn't minded writing the reports, the Doctor, on the other hand was completely against it. Something's never changed with him.

"Well, that was a nice way to spend the morning, Doctor," the Hatter commented, smiling over to him across the small garage that housed Bessie in.

"Much better then writing up those reports," the Doctor agreed, pulling his driving gloves off and tucking them inside his pocket, "Or though…" he paused, glancing up with a small frown crossing his face, "I could have sworn that we've forgotten something".

"Funny you should mention that," the dark haired Time Lady nodded slowly, "Because I have the same feeling, and even stranger, I have a feeling that we've experienced it before".

"You're talking about the last time this happened in our Second bodies," he said, nodding along with her

The Hatter's eyes widened slightly, "Indeed I was," she sighed, "But sadly we never did find out what happen, or regained our memories of that event".

The Doctor gave her a small smile as he walked around to stand beside her, putting his arm around her, "We will," he said reassuringly, recalling how upset she got the last and first time they had brought it up, "I hope that you don't intended to go marching into the High Council on Gallifrey, demanding for our memories to be returned this time," he added with a slightly teasing tone.

"Oh, don't remind me," she groaned, shaking her head as a faint blush passed her pale cheeks, "I'm afraid that, that wasn't one of my best moments, but in my deafens, my Second self was quite impulsive," she smiled slightly at him, "But luckily one learns with age".

"Do they?" the Doctor raised his eyebrows at her, looking amused.

"Yes, they do," she replied firmly, giving him a look.

"I'll take your word for that, my dear Hatter," he grinned down at her as she rolled her eyes at him, nudging his side.

"You know, we should probably be getting back to the lab before Alistair realises that we're gone," the Hatter said after a moment, "Something tells me that he wouldn't be too pleased with us to see that we've been spending the best part of the morning just driving around".

"Ah, you're probably right," the Doctor nodded, "Well, then, come on," he took her hand and reached inside his pocket, grabbing his sonic screwdriver and holding it up to the doors to the garage, opening them to find…

"Doctor," the Brig called to them with his arms crossed, looking stern as he stood just outside the doors, "Hatter".

"Oh, ah, Alistair," the Hatter blinked, looking like a child who had just been caught stealing from the cookie jar as she glanced at the Doctor and back to the Brig, "Hi, we, ah…we didn't see you there".

"Clearly," the human man replied dryly.

"My dear fellow," the Doctor fixed a bright smile to his face as he walked over to the Brig, pulling the Time Lady with him, "My, my, what brings you here of all places?"

"You two, Doctor," the Brig told them, still looking less than impressed by them, "I have spent all morning searching for the two of you all over the base…"

"Now, Alistair, if you wanted us to join you for a cup of tea in your office then you shouldn't have bothered," the Hatter cut him off, smiling pleasantly as she tried distracting the Brig, despite knowing that it probably wouldn't end up working, "Besides, the Doctor and I much prefer having tea in the lab, you know? Or though, honestly, tea on the moon is a lot better but it's such a long way to travel from here, still, we really must do something like that once more. Oh, here's an idea, you should come with us, you might like…"

"Hatter!" the Brig cut her off loudly, knowing that she would just keep talking until he stopped her, or she ran out of breath which could take a while, "I know exactly what your trying to do and it's not going to work".

"Nice try, though," the Doctor smiled at her.

"Thank you," the Time Lady nodded to the Doctor with a small smile.

"If you two have quite finished?" the Brig cleared his throat, giving both Time Lords looks, "Now, as I was saying, I searched all over the base until I noticed that, that car of yours, Doctor, was missing and I don't need to be from another planet to know what that meant. Not only did you both leave the base without permission, but you also went against my orders for you to finish writing out those reports…"

"We apologise for that, old chap," the Doctor cut in, patting his shoulder, "Don't we, Hatter?" he glanced at her.

"Oh, yes," she quickly nodded, "But in all seriousness, Alistair, you should have known that we would have ended up doing something like this. The Doctor and I don't take orders to well, you know?"

"Believe me; I'm well aware of that, Hatter," the Brig replied, shaking his head at them, "Which is why I'm not surprised in the slightest by you both, merely disappointed".

"You've spent too much time around her," the Doctor smiled, looking amused as he nodded to the Hatter, "You're starting to sound like her".

"Don't listen to him, Alistair," the Hatter nudged the Doctor's side, sending him a small glare, "He's just jealous that you don't spend as much time around him as with him, or though, I suppose that you do, seeing as the Doctor and I always seem to be around each other".

"Doctor, Hatter, please," the Brig sighed, giving them both stern looks, "Would either one of you like to perhaps tell me where you have been?"

"Actually, there's a small problem with that, Brigadier," the Doctor said to him, pausing for a moment as he tried thinking of a way to explain just why that was an issue, "You see, the Hatter and I seem to be suffering from memory lose".

"Memory lose?" the Brig repeated, frowning at them in mild concern, "What type of memory lose? You don't look like your forgetting anything".

"Ah, well, that's the thing," the Hatter replied, sighing slightly, "We're only missing a gap in our memories of how we got back to the base. You see, the last thing we can remember is driving along this country road, and then…" she trailed off as she shrugged, "Nothing. Everything goes a bit foggy and the next thing we know we're climbing out of Bessie in the garage".

"But we don't think that it's anything we should be to concerned about," the Doctor added, seeing that the Brig was about to ask, "It's happened once or twice before and no harm ever came out of it. We think that it might have something to do with our people, the Time Lords".

"Well, if you both think that it's harmless…" the Brig said slowly, still eyeing them.

"Which we do," the Hatter nodded, giving him a smile.

"Hmm, alright, then," he nodded before giving them looks, "But if it happens again, you'll be sure to tell me, yes?"

"Of course, old chap," the Doctor agreed, giving a smile of his own, "But we're almost positive that it won't happen anytime soon, it appears to only happen once in regeneration, so we really don't have to concerned about it until we regenerate again".

"If you say so, Doctor, Hatter," the Brig said, still sounding somewhat unsure as he gave them a nod and turned to leave before looking back to them, "Oh, I almost forgot, the reason I was looking for you both was because I thought you would be interested in a self-proclaimed clairvoyant, Professor Herbert Clegg," he informed them, "He does some sort of stage act and he appears to be the real thing from his act. I just thought it sounded like something the two of you would be interested in".

"Well, we would have to see his performers but if he is truly as he appears to be, then he could help us quite a bit with our research into psychic powers in humans," the Hatter commented, looking curious as she exchanged looks with the Doctor.

"It does sound promising," the Doctor agreed, turning to the Brig, "Do you know when his next performs is?"

"Later today, as it happens," the Brig replied, frowning slightly at them, "But it's probably just going to end up being a waste of time…"

"Excellent," the Hatter smiled, looking quite pleased, ignoring the Brig's last remark, "Well, then, Alistair, off you pop and grab your coat, we have investigating to do".

"But I have…"

"And don't forget to meet us back here," the Doctor added, ignoring the Brig, "We'll take Bessie with us," he smiled as he turned the Hatter, the Brig sighed, shaking his head as he decided to just go along with them and started heading back to his office, "Well, that went better than I thought it would," he said in relief once they were sure that the Brig was well out of ear shot.

"Indeed," the Time Lady nodded, also looking relieved, "It could have turned out quite different, if you think about it".

"Hmm," the Doctor hummed in agreement before shaking his head and smiling at her, "Well, come on," he grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards the garage, "We had best get ready to leave. Hopefully this professor will turn out to be real, rather than fake".

….….…._**The River Cam**_…..…..

"The pole!" the Doctor shouted as they drifted under a bridge while they continued punting down the river, forcing him to duck but as he ducked he lost his grip on the punting pole.

"Doctor," the Hatter closed her eyes, forcing the urge to hit him away as she cracked her bright blue eyes open and looked at him, "Please, oh, please tell me that you didn't just lose the pole, you know, the thing we need to be able to get back to dry land?"

"Ah," he hesitated, avoiding looking in her eyes.

"Doctor!" both the Hatter and Romana shouted at him.

"It's not my fault," the Doctor tired defending himself, "I almost lost my balance, I would have fallen in the river if I had tried to grab it again".

"I'm sure that if you can face up to a Dalek then you can stand a little bit of water, Doctor," Romana replied, shaking her head at him.

"I would have liked to have seen you try it!"

"Doctor," the Hatter gasped at him, looking as if it was a huge scandal, "It may have escaped your attention, but Romana is wearing a dress, that's hardly an article of clothing for a lady to go swimming in while in public, or around you".

"Hatter," the Doctor shook his head at her, "You know that's not what I was saying…"

"Oh, and it wouldn't be the first time, would it?" she continued, "If I recall correctly, you once 'accidently' looked up my own dress".

"That was an accident," the Doctor defended, unable to stop the blush from spreading across his face as he thought of that day, it really would have been a whole lot better if they hadn't been trying to climb out of a tomb full of Cybermen while the Cybermen chased after them. That had really been an adventure and a half back in there Second incantations.

"You know, Doctor, Hatter," Romana cut in, used to listening to the two older Time Lords argue with each other like that, "As amusing as this all is, shouldn't we be trying to get back to dry land? I'd rather not have to spend the rest of today floating on the river with no way of getting back".

"In that case, then, I think it's time that we go and see if the Professor is back in his room," the Doctor replied, "Ask me how?"

"How?" Romana questioned, looking confused by his request as she glanced at the just as baffled Hatter beside her.

"For every reaction there is an opposite and equally different action," the Doctor quoted once more as they suddenly heard strange whisper like voices from overhead, coming from the bridge above them,

"Did you just hear voices?" Romana frowned, looking above them.

"Yes, how odd," the Hatter commented, looking up at the bridge, curiously.

"What?" the Doctor asked, not really paying attention as he grabbed a wooden paddle that the Hatter had managed to find at the back of the boat and pass it to him as he started trying to paddle them back to shore.

"Never mind, Doctor," the Hatter sighed, shaking her head with vague amusement as she exchanged looks with Romana, "Never mind, you just focus on trying to get back to land, and do try to be quickly. My legs are starting to fall asleep from sitting so long".

"We'll be on dry land soon enough," the Doctor smiled at the Time Ladies, "You two just enjoy the scenery," he reached inside his pocket and tossed a white paper bag at the Hatter, "And a jelly baby or two," he added with a large grin and wink.

"That's your solution to everything, Doctor," Romana remarked, shaking her head at him, "Have a jelly baby".

"Don't complain, Romana," the Hatter waved a finger at her as she passed the bag to her, while popping the sweet in her mouth, "Jelly babies are wonderful things. Eat up!"

"You two really are too much alike sometimes," the younger blonde Time Lady smiled slightly, looking amused as she popped a jelly baby in her mouth before returning to her book.

…_**The Fifth Doctor's TARDIS**_….…..

"Hatter," the Doctor called through the bedroom door as he knocked, waiting for her answer.

"Come in, Doctor," she called back a moment later. He smiled slightly as he grasped the door handle and twisted it before stepping inside the room to see the Hatter standing in front of her full length mirror, examining her new regeneration and outfit, having changed out of her full length gown as soon as she could once they had managed to run away from Gallifrey.

"I see you've already chosen you new outfit," he commented as he gave her the once over, taking in the small heeled, Mary Jane style shoes, the navy blue tights, and pleated skirt, the red and navy blue striped peplum top with a small navy blue bow on the front, and a dark red, velvet beret with little flower like design on the side made from little lopes of fabric.

"What do you think?" the Hatter smiled at him as she turned around and gave him a little twirl, making the skirt flare out before she struck a dramatic pose, "Do you think I can pull It off?" she asked, putting on a French accent.

"Certainly," he replied with a grin, laughing at her childlike behaviour, "You look beautiful".

"Why thank you, kind Sir," she laughed, dropping the accent and returning back to her British accent, "And you don't look so bad yourself," she winked as he blushed slightly at her remark.

"Well, you seem to be in a very happy mood," the Doctor commented, smiling at her as he remembered how awful she had been before when her companion had died, he always hated it when he saw her crying and he had never seen her that heartbroken over something before. He hoped that nothing like that ever happened again in the distant future.

"I am," the Hatter grinned as she skipped over to her bed and picked up her old dress, skipping over to her wardrobe and hanging it up among some of her old clothes. She had already put her tiara in a box and tucked it away, "But why shouldn't I be happy? I mean, it's been years since the first time we went to the Death Zone and we couldn't remember that, and now we finally have all of our memories back. It's brilliant, Doctor, I finally feel complete again".

"Yes, so do I," the Doctor agreed, nodding before he sighed, "Or though, it would be nice to be able to forget what Borusa did".

The Hatter's smile disappeared in a flash as she sighed, looking down, "I know," she said quietly, "I'm still feeling quite stunned by it, not to mention hurt. Of all the people on Gallifrey I never thought that Borusa could do something like that".

"It was a very big shock. But I suppose that we probably shouldn't feel as shocked as we do, after all, we really didn't know Borusa that well".

"I know," the Hatter nodded, looking upset, "But it's just…it's just the thought that he was so willing to use us like that. I mean, he knew us since we were kids. He used to be one of the only teachers who was ever somewhat fond of use, despite how many times we pranked him. It's just…" she looked at the Doctor, sighing, "It just feels like he's betrayed us, you know?"

"Yes, I do know," the Doctor gave her an understanding look as he pulled her into a tight hug, burring his face into the side of her neck, whispering to her, "And he did betray us, but we both already know that power and greed can turn anyone into someone completely different from the one we once knew. Just look at the Master, what has his struggle for power done to him? He's unrecognisable from the person we once knew".

"This probably sounds silly," the Hatter began, hesitating as she pulled back from the hug, but the Doctor still kept his arm around her waist, "But I still like to think that the Master still has some hope left in him, that maybe one day he'll come to his senses and finally do something good. Who knows, he may even end up saving our lives one day".

"Do you really believe that there's hope left for the Master?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, I wouldn't be willing to bet my hat on it, if you were asking me that," she replied, making a gesture to her new hat as the Doctor smiled, "But I like to live in hope, and thus, I'm going to try and remain that way with the Master".

"Even after all the things he's done?"

"Yes," the Hatter nodded firmly, "And you, can you really say that you've lost hope that he may one day re-deem himself? Because I would be very surprised if you had".

"No, I haven't lost hope," the Doctor replied after a brief pause, "But that doesn't mean that I'll ever be able to fully trust him again, he's done too much damage for me to ever be able to freely trust him again, even if he did find a way of proving that he was good".

"You know, all this talk about good or bad sort of reminds me of Harry Potter," the Time Lady commented with a small grin.

"Ah, why am I not surprised that you would relate this to Harry Potter?" he laughed, shaking his head at her fondly.

"Because, Doctor, you just know me so well," she replied, linking her arm through his, "Now, I'm starving, I haven't had anything to eat since regeneration and I don't eat something soon then I might just fade away," she flashed him a excited grin, "Come on!"

The Doctor could only laugh as she dragged him out of the room and down the corridor while she prattled on about what new foods she was excited about trying out to see whether this new her would like them, while he simply enjoyed spending time with his best friend.

_**Ah, finally finished, but I have got to say that I really loved writing this whole story, and I'm sort of sad that it's over but at the same time I'm glad because now I'll be able to start writing either 'The Three Doctors and Hatters' or 'The Two Doctors and Hatters'. I'm not sure which one I'll be writing next, any suggestions? I would also like to apologise for not updating as I said that I would, but my dog has been sick and I've been taking care of her and too busy to update, so sorry for that. I hope you liked it :)**_


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